The Legend of the Starheart
by ilovemedia18
Summary: Her people, her home, her world. Gone. She has nothing left except the Stars and the Doctor. To others she looks like any other human to those who see the universe as it is, like the Doctor, she's somthing more. The last time lord The last Starheart Dr/OC
1. Or so the Legend goes

I sighed and sat down on my couch. It had been a long day and I was tired. I hated this place and yet I loved it too. I had spent half my life here in Wales. Beautiful place Wales is. But I missed the adventure and the excitement. The danger of it all. But I was sent here for my protection. Even if it was a little dull doing the same thing day after day. I got up off my couch and went outside onto my deck. The stars were beautiful. I always loved star gazing.

"I know you're up there… I miss you." I saw the stars twinkle and the billions of different little planets and galaxies that were up there. And yet I knew one planet was missing. But only one… one person was up there that I wanted to see.

"Come back soon…" When he promised to come back he never told me how long. And with him time was never always on his side. I just had to wait. I knew he'd come back for me eventually but I had all the time in the world. For me time had come to a stand still. My body stopped ageing while the world around me grew older with time. People came and went. Cities rose and fell. For the world time went on, for me though…time stood still.

I fell asleep on the deck and didn't wake up until I heard a loud crash. I woke up and ran back into my house and grabbed my gun before running down my back steps. I cautiously went to the front of my house,

"I say a bit of rough landing don't you think?" That voice. I knew that voice.

"Rough! That was more than rough. That was an all out crash." A voice of a woman, Scottish too.

"Yes, she is a bit beat up isn't she."

"Where are we even at doctor-" A British man's voice.

"Doctor." The three spun around to face my already raised weapon.

"Ah, yes, well you see I am the Doctor. Here's my certification." He proceeded to pull out a small booklet about the size of a passport, but the psychic power it had never worked on me,

"It's blank." I brushed past him and made my way to that old blue box I loved so much. His face showed confusion and the girl looked terrified,

"Doctor…"

"Yes the Doctor and his TARDIS. A bit beat up the poor old girl is. What **have** you been doing to her?" I patted the side of the police box and made my way in,

"Doctor, how did she-"

"You out of all people should know about legends Doctor. You are one of them in fact. Even your name burns in the stars and in the Medusa Cascade. You have starlight in your eyes Doctor…" The Doctor's eyes were forever on me. He's mouth was open slightly with a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Legend has it that there was war. One of the greatest wars in all of creation, and the people were dying. It says a woman of the stars was taken away by a keeper of time to be the one who carries on the hope of a people that would never see the end of the war. She was the starlight that was to lead them out of the dark. To be the one that carries on the hope and the legend." The Doctor grinned now and took over from there,

"She was his light out of the darkness of what he had done. But the keeper of time could not stay with her. She needed to be safe and he needed to finish what was started. He promised to return once the danger was gone. For life with mortals would only bring sorrow, and he had promised to bring her back to the stars one day." I grew closer to the Doctor and my smile matched that of the Doctor's.

"And as she said goodbye to the keeper of time she gave him a token to remember her by-"

"As so not to forget her." I smiled at the Doctor seeing how he remembered. He smirked and the Doctor came closer to me so we were inches apart.

"Ah, Doctor, she still has a gun…"

"Very observant Rory."

"How do you know my name?"

"Amy."

"How do you know me then?" The Doctor never took his eyes off of me and simply tilted his head a little,

"She's a Starheart."

"A what?"

"So Doctor… what was it that she gave the keeper of time…" He had a twinkle in his eye as he pulled the chain out from under his shirt to reveal the pendant which had a faint glow to it.

"The necklace of a Starheart. Or so the legend goes."


	2. A sad day for both worlds

The Doctor wrapped his arms around me in a hug and a smile plastered to his face,

"Phoenix."

"Hello Doctor."

"Don't worry Amy. I'm not going to hurt the Doctor. And Rory, I'll put the gun down if it makes you feel better." They both looked shocked that I had known that,

"Who are you?" The Doctor pulled away and smile at them,

"Amy, Rory this is Phoenix."

"Nice to meet you both." They both nodded but I could feel the hesitation. "Doctor please tell me you're going to take me away from here now."

"Of course! I can't leave you here. I am sorry about being late. The TARDIS hasn't been herself since my regeneration."

"Oh I remember."

"Question!"

"Yes Amy."

"You never really answered my question, how-"

"How do I know who you are?" She and Rory shook their heads. The Doctor stepped forward and I wrapped my arms around his neck, "Should I tell them or would you like to explain?" I could feel the anger coming off of Amy and knew that she liked the Doctor.

"No I will." I kissed him on the cheek.

"Be my guest."

"Starheart. Phoenix is a Starheart. Starhearts are a race of people whose names represent the stars."

"Oh you mean there no named after the stars."

"No, no, no. The stars were named after **them**. The people that pray to the stars pray to them. The Starhearts were calm and peaceful people. They look humans to anybody else but to those who really see the universe as it is. To you they look ordinary people. Maybe a little better. But to people who can see the stars literally see the stars people like me," His voice became softer and tenderer, "they are the most beautiful thing you'll ever see." I felt more of a jealousy come off of Amy now.

"They were a gifted race. They had the ability to read ones heart. The emotions that poor out of people and the things that are on ones heart. The Starhearts would relieve their heavy hearts and burdens. Those that believed in the Starhearts were filled with the light of the stars. A great race of people. A beautiful race. No other race like it."

"Doctor," I felt Rory's heart grow with question, "You keep saying were." The Doctor let out a sigh,

"Yes, they **were** a tremendous race, but when the Time War occurred so did another. The War of the Stars. You see there are the good Starhearts and then there are the bad Starhearts. The ones like the Greek gods and goddesses like Medusa and Hades were bad ones. Very nasty that Medusa what with all the biting and slithering snakes on her head. Then there were the good ones like Zeus, Poseidon, Orian. They all came in the form stars but some were portrayed as gods and goddesses. The bad Starhearts destroyed the good Starhearts and in the end when there were no more good Starhearts left on the planet. It fell into chaos and turmoil and they destroyed each other. The whole planet fell into darkness. Gallifrey wasn't the only planet that fell that day…" I felt all the emotion poor out of Rory and Amy. The sadness,

"The whole planet…" He nodded and I felt his hand grip mine,

"She's the last of the Starhearts. We are the last of our kind."

"So you can read what we're thinking?"

"No Rory. I can't read what you're thinking. I can read your heart. If you have a person on your heart I know who it is. Even you may not know that something's on your heart, but I do."

"What about the doctor. He has two hearts. Can you read his?" I let go of the Doctor's hand and placed it over his hearts."

"No, the Time Lords are a special species like the Starhearts. The Doctor's hearts are all his own." I felt a mix of emotions come off of Amy. Sadness, anger, hurt. "Tell me…what do you see…" they both gave me questioning looks,

"How do I look to your eyes?" Rory started,

"Um…brown hair…brown eyes."

"Average height…a little smaller than average weight." Then the Doctor jumped in,

"All in all a normal everyday girl yes. No. Look closer. You won't be able to see what I see but if look hard enough you'll see a few unique things." They looked closer and I felt shock in Amy,

"Your eyes…They have a… a sparkle to them. You're not pale but your not tan your just…And your hair…It's perfectly curly like-"

"Like no curl is out of place."

"Yeah."

"That's what happens when you look closely."

"What do you see Doctor?" He turned to Amy and then back to me. He smiled at me and shook my head,

"That my dear is something I simply can not describe." And again I felt the emotions come off of Amy.

"So you're the Phoenix constellation then yeah?" The Doctor answered Rory's question for me. He opened the door while we were in space,

"You see that constellation there. That's the Phoenix. It was named after her." I got closer to the Doctor as did the others,

"And if you look hard the Orion and all the other Star constellations are gone. The smaller ones that nobody really noticed have already gone, and the ones that everyone notice like Orion, Aries, and Hercules… Those have slowly been fading for hundreds of years. They no longer shine like they used to. They're slowly fading until they are no more." I felt the Doctor pull me closer and I could hear his hearts beating in his chest. He knew my pain and my sadness.

"I'm sorry Phoenix."

"So am I. So am I."


	3. Tears for the past

It was quiet in the TARDIS. The Doctor was working away and Rory had fallen asleep. Amy was sitting there watching the Doctor run around and I simply watched the stars.

"So Phoenix, what was life like for you?"

"Where. Back on my own planet or on Earth."

"Your home world." I smiled at her. She was an inquisitive one.

"Back on my home planet life was great. Everything was beautifully made from the stars. My half of the planet was the part that shined and illuminated the planet."

"Was everybody on the planet a Starheart?" The Doctor had slowed down and began to pay attention more. He always loved it when I talked about my home.

"No, there were Centaurs, Fauns, Satyrs, Naiads, Pegasus', Sprites, and Dryads."

"What were the Dryads?"

"There sort of dragons and they don't speak."

"There are other kinds of dragons as well, and they do not seem to fit into the regular scheme of things. Some say they have a special purpose saved for the end of the world."

"Very right Doctor, but those ones didn't live with us. These creatures lived with us and tended to the land of the planet. Oh and the Star whales. They were the most beautiful creatures we had. You would've loved them. They were humongous whale like creatures that swam through the space. There were so many of them. Only a few escaped the massacre."

"You know we-"

"Amy! Can I borrow you for a moment please?"

"Sure but can I tell her that-"

"Now Amy!" She sighed and rolled her eyes before standing. But I knew what it was and I knew what the Doctor was trying to do. I felt Amy's heart swell with joy when I mentioned the Star Whales. She's seen one I can feel it. But now I can feel sadness come off of her. The Doctor must have told her not to tell me. Something must have happened. She came back and sat down beside me,

"So…what about the other half of the planet." I let out a sigh,

"That half of the planet belonged to the dark Starhearts. That half of the planet had Incubus', Minotaur's, Specters, and Wraiths. Wraiths are ghost-like creatures that are very hard to see in daylight and basically impossible to see at night. They are some of the most dangerous creatures that lived on the planet. If you weren't careful they would sneak up on visitors at night and suck their breath away from them." Amy's eyes widened and I smiled at her.

"They are gone as well though. Everything was wiped from the planet."

"How did you escape?" I smiled at her,

"My father sent me away to a place of hiding. To Earth. None of my brothers lived."

"I'm so sorry."

"It's alright." I was lying but I didn't want to feel her hurt as well.

"Well, I'm tired. Don't know about you lot but I am going to bed."

"Night Amy."

"G'night Doctor, Phoenix."

"Good night." Amy went into the upper level of the TARDIS and disappeared into her room. I sighed and still sat on the floor against the wall watching the Doctor. He finally had finished with his fiddling with the TARDIS and looked at me. I held out my hand toward him and he came over and sat down beside me. He let out a sigh,

"Doctor…What happened to the Star whale? I know you told Amy not to tell me. But please…" He ran a hand through his hair,

"We ran into a British ship a while back, well actually in the future, that had the whole city on it. The ship was being carried by the Star Whale. But…" He was hesitant to tell me and I took his hand in my own, "They didn't know it had voluntarily given himself to save them and they took it as a slave and…"

"It's alright Doctor." He let out a sigh and kissed my hand,

"They tortured it. To keep it going." I felt a pain in my heart. That one of the most beautiful and harmless creatures in the universe would be subjected to torture when it was only trying to help.

"What happened to it…"

"Amy figured out that it was voluntarily helping them and stopped the torture and set it free. It's still carrying them." I let out a breath of relief and lied my head down on the Doctor's shoulder. Our fingers still entwined with each other.

"Doctor... My family's stars…have they burnt out? I don't have the heart to look." He stood and pulled me up with him. He opened the door and looked out. I had three brothers Hercules, Leo, and Aries they were always getting into trouble. I had one sister Canes Venatici she was a wonderful sister. She always had a smile on her face and was filled with joy. My mother, the female warrior, Orion and my father, the crown, Coma Berenices were the leaders of the Starhearts. I moved a little closer to him and he took my hand and squeezed it, "Doctor…"

"Your parents and your brother's stars are still shinning." I let out a sigh of relief.

"And my sister?" He let out a sigh and pulled me closer to him,

"I'm sorry Phoenix…but…her stars are gone." I felt tears slide down my cheeks and I felt the Doctor pull me into a hug. "I'm so sorry Phoenix. But as long as you have me, then neither of us will be alone." After a few minutes of crying I wiped my eyes and gave him a small smile,

"Thank you Doctor." I gave him a quick kiss on the lips and then went to my room which was on the ground floor. Leaving a slightly stunned Doctor standing there.


	4. Back home to Wales

When I woke the next morning I found that the TARDIS was quiet. I found that Amy and Rory weren't in the TARDIS and looked at the monitor,

"Cwmtaff Whales 2020 A.D. Great! Back home. A little far from my home though." I went to the Doctor's room and cracked it open just slightly. I saw a worn out Doctor lying on his bed. I smiled and shut the door again. I scribbled off a little note telling the Doctor that I'd be back soon and put it on the main console. I went into the wardrobe and picked out what I wanted to wear. I settled on a pair on jeans and a black tank top with an olive green jacket. When you've lived on Earth during the time of jeans and other comfy clothes, it makes it very hard to go back to dresses.

I shut the door to the TARDIS and made my way down the street. I walked around for a little while and found myself wondering into a museum. I was studying one of the paintings when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and smiled at Rory.

"Hello Rory."

"Phoenix, what are you doing here?"

"Just exploring. I haven't been to this part of Whales."

"Yeah we were supposed to go to Rio. Is the Doctor with you?"

"No. He's still asleep. The poor thing wore himself out yesterday." He smiled at me, "Is Amy with you?"

"She's still looking at the paintings in the other room. I'm not big on art. Um can I ask you a question?"

"Yes what is it?"

"Um, are you and the Doctor… well I mean do you and the Doctor…"

"No Rory. The Doctor and I aren't together."

"Oh yeah forgot about the whole reading people thing, but um, does…does Amy…" I smiled at him,

"Rory, I can't tell you that. Even though I can read peoples hearts, it doesn't mean that I should tell others. I promise you though that you'll find out eventually. And don't worry yourself so much. Amy loves you. You know she does." He gave me a small smile. Then I felt something in the air. A sort of surprise and slight jealousy, "I do believe that Amy's here."

"Really?" I nodded and scanned the area, "There she is." Amy smiled at us and headed over to us,

"Ello Phoenix."

"Amy."

"Is the Doctor with you?"

"No. He's still sleeping."

"Actually," I turned around to see the Doctor heading our way, "I am up and ready. A bit of rest and I'm ready to go."

"So why are we here Doctor?"

"I don't know. Thought a bit of a modern change was good."

"Yes coming from the man in a bow tie." I couldn't help but laugh and the Doctor glared at Rory.

"Hey bow ties are cool. And the TARDIS still isn't quite herself yet." I rolled my eyes,

"Doctor have you noticed-"

"Yes the ground does seem a bit unsettling doesn't it. A mining team or something eh? I love mining." My very random Doctor. We left the museum and walked around for quite some time before we came across a drilling team.

"Oh boy. Doctor."

"What is it?" I pointed to the corner of the forest that nobody seemed to be paying attention to.

"Oh dear."

"What is it?" The Doctor and I looked at each other and then to Amy and Rory,

"Oh nothing nothing at all." I gave the Doctor a look and then I looked back to Amy,

"Just a Silurian scout." Amy and Rory squinted at the spot where I had pointed and sure enough there was a scout.


	5. Trouble, in more ways then one

We had to walk through a graveyard to get there though and I noticed something,

"Doctor. Have you noticed the blue grass?"

"Yes patches of it everywhere."

"Doctor it's just a few patches of blue grass. You promised me Rio and I'm dressed for Rio not this whether. Do you see those people waving?" We looked the way she was looking,

"Can't be." Rory started to wave but Amy told him not to. The Doctor pulled out binoculars. He peered through them,

"It is." Then he peered through them again, "It's you two." He handed me the glasses and I looked through them,

"Well I'll be."

"No we're here how can we be up there?" I smiled. Rory was actually kind of funny.

"Ten years in your future, come here to relive your past glories I imagine. Humans, you're so nostalgic." Amy looked at Rory,

"We're still together in ten years."

"Don't need to sound so surprised."

"Yeah let's go talk to them, say hi to the future us. How cool is that."

"Ah no best not, really best not these things get complicated quickly-"

"Oh look," I tried to help the Doctor out by pointing something very important out, "A big mining drill."

"A very big mining thing. You see way better than Rio. Rio doesn't have a big mining thing." I couldn't help but laugh at the Doctors attempt to dig himself out of the hole he created.

"We're not going to have a look are we?"

"Let's go and have a look. Come on you two let's see what they're doing."

"If he can't get us to Rio, how is he ever going to get us back home?" I smiled at Rory and began to follow the Doctor,

"Did you not see over there? It all works out fine."

"From everything we've seen we just drop back into our old lives? The nurse and the kiss-o-gram?"

"I guess. They're getting away."

"Hang on. What are you doing with that?" I assumed Rory was talking about the engagement ring because I saw it on Amy's finger earlier.

"Engagement ring. I thought you liked me to wear it."

"Amy you could loose it. Give me that."

"Spoil sport."

"I'll catch you all up." I looked back to Rory. I was going to call out to him and tell him that he should stay with us but Amy interrupted me,

"Doctor, Phoenix! Wait up." We, well I at least, waited for her and then we continued walking until we came to a gate.

"Restricted access no unauthorized personnel." He used his sonic screw driver on the lock. Amy stepped back a little,

"That is breaking and entering."

"What'd I break? It's sonicing and entering. Big difference." I rolled my eyes.

"Doctor the people of this world don't take very well to people entering with out permission. Especially the Welsh." He gave me a cheeky grin and came very close so his nose was almost touching mine. I could feel a small rise of anger in Amy,

"Well then I shall try not to get caught." Then he turned and took the lock off and pushed the gate open.

"Come on then." Amy went in but the Doctor turned and looked to the horizon,

"You sure Rory will catch us up?" I grabbed his hand and intertwined our fingers and pulled him along. We found a tunnel entrance and went in,

"How bout now. Can you feel it now?"

"I've got no idea what you're on about?" The doctor stopped and looked at a pipe that was running out of the wall,

"The ground doesn't feel as it should."

"Something's not right." The Doctor nodded in agreement.

"It's ten years in the future maybe this ground feels is how it always feels."

"Good thought but no it doesn't." A siren began to go off. The Doctor began to describe it as a drilling starter mode and that an after wave seismic shift and blue grass isn't normal. And then he had to go and eat a piece of said grass.

"Amy this is just a few years after my time in Whales. I lived here in Whales until 2018. The Doctor's right." He made a face and pulled the grass out of his mouth,

"Oh please, have you always been this disgusting?" And simultaneously we both said,

"No." He looked at me then back to Amy,

"That's recent." She scoffed a little, "What's in here? Hello!" There was a woman with dark hair and glasses in a dingy looking room,

"Who are you? What are you doing here? And what are you wearing?"

"I dressed for Rio." The Doctor and I shushed her and he began to spout off how he was with some mining company.

"What are you doing?"

"None of your business." I could feel the wariness come off of her with suspicion mixed into it. She moved over and we looked at the screen,

"Where are you getting these readings from?"

"Under the soil." A man entered the room,

"The drill's up and running again. What's going on? Who are these people?" I felt a suspicion and protectiveness come off of him. The Doctor got down on the ground and picked some of the soil up,

"Amy, the Doctor, and Phoenix. And we're not staying are we Doctor?"

"Why is there a big patch of Earth in the middle of your floor?"

"We don't know it just appeared over night." I leaned down by the Doctor and got close to his ear.

"Doctor, if it is the Silurians, what will we do?" He turned his head do our faces were very close and I could feel his breath on my face,

"I don't know yet, but if it is Silurians then this is bad. Very not good." I nodded and stood. Then he shot up abruptly, "Good. Right. You all need to get out of here very fast."

"Why?"

"What's your name?"

"Nasreen Chaudhry."

"Look at the screens Nasreen. Look at your readings it's moving."

"Hey that's specialized equipment, get away from it." The man was growing angrier and I didn't like it.

"What is?"

"Doctor this steam is that a good thing?" I turned around to see Amy standing very close to it,

"Shouldn't think so. Shifting when it should be shifting."

"What shouldn't?" I felt fear and confusion grow in Nasreen. The ground began to quake,

"The ground, the soil, the earth they're all moving. How? why?"

"Earth quake?"

"No, this is no mere Earth quake." The Doctor nodded in agreement,

"Doubt it. It's only happening under this room." Then more holes appeared in the floor. "It knows we're here. The ground's attacking."

"That's not possible." Nasreen was filled with fear now.

"Under the circumstances I'd suggest…run!" And we did. But then the guy names Tony got stuck and Amy stayed to help,

"Stay back Amy!" And she didn't she leaped over to help him. I ran back to them once she got stuck,

"AMY!"

"Doctor get me out! Why is it doing this?"

"Stay calm."

"Shut the drill off! Do it now!"

"Amy stay calm don't struggle it'll make it worse and don't let go of our hands. I'm not going to let you go. We pulled and pulled but then she got sucked down further and the Doctor got thrown back. I held tight to her hand but I was slowly loosing my grip,

"Just hold on until they shut down the drill." The Doctor was back and we were trying desperately to pull her out,

"Doctor I can't hold on! What's pulling me? What's under there? I don't want to suffocate."

"Amy concentrate. Don't you give up."

"Tell Rory-" She started to sink,

"AMY!" She went under and the Doctor lost his grip, "No! No!" I still hand a hold of her. She gripped my hand tightly and gripped it back. The Doctor was digging trying to find her hand. I was up to my shoulder in the dirt now,

"I'm not letting you go!" I felt something slash at my hand and cried out in pain. The Doctor started to pull me away from it. My hand had a nice long cut running across it. He soniced the ground where Amy fell Justas the other two came running back in. My head began to pound and I felt a sudden wave of nausea come over me,

"Where is she?"

"She's gone. The ground took her." My vision was swimming,

"Are you alright?" Nasreen had noticed my distress and the others turned their attention to me. I looked at my hand which was still bleeding but I noticed that it wasn't just blood that I saw but also a green liquid. The Doctor kneeled beside me and looked me over.

"Doctor…" His eye grew wide with worry,

"What is it?" Nasreen was worried as well but I knew what it was,

"It's poison."


	6. Just Your Everyday Trip With the Doctor

"Is that what happened to Mo? Are they dead?" The Doctor was looking me over and checking me every few minutes. The poison hurt but it wouldn't kill me. My blood wasn't human; therefore it felt more like a really bad case of the flu. My body could fight the poison out but I'd feel horrible. My head was burning and my body was freezing.

"It's not quick sand. It didn't just sink. Something pulled her in it. Wanted her."

"The ground wanted her?" Nasreen felt safer around the Doctor that I could feel, but only because she was right beside me. I couldn't read Tony because of my condition.

"You said the ground was dormant. Just a patch of Earth when I saw it this morning. And the drill had been stopped."

"That's right."

"But when you restarted the drill it fought back." I gasped for breath as the poison made me feel as though I had someone trying to choke me. The Doctor was by my side in a heartbeat,

"I'm alright. I'm fine."

"No, you're not." He pushed a strand of hair out of my face, "Your body is trying to fight off a poison that kills most." His hand trailed the side of my face and he kissed my head, "I'm not loosing you." I smiled at him. The poison would move quickly out of my body, that I had no doubt about, but would it move out in time? If it was Silurians the

"So the ground wants us to stop drilling? Doctor that is ridiculous." The Doctor smiled at Nasreen.

"I'm not saying that and it's not ridiculous." He was sonicing the patch of dirt that Amy went through. The ground made a slight rumbling sound, "Right, oh, of course. Bio-programming."

"What?"

"Bio-programming oh clever! You use bio signals to resonate the internal molecular structure of natural objects. Mainly used in engineering and construction. Well it's also used in jungle planets but that's in the future. What's it doing here?"

"Sorry did you just say jungle planets?"

"This isn't making any sense."

"Yes Nasreen, Jungle Planets. And it does make sense. You see, ah," I struggled to stand and in the end the Doctor had to help me stand. He wrapped his arm around my waist and I put mine around his neck, "Your world isn't the only one in the universe anymore."

"Yes and excuse me I'm making perfect sense. You're not keeping up. Yeah the ground beneath our feet was bio-programmed to attack."

"Yeah even if that were possible, which by the way it's not, why?"

"Stop your drilling ok so we find whatever is doing the bio-programming we can find Amy we can get her back. Shh, shh. I've gone mad. I've gone mad."

"Doctor."

"Shh. Silence absolute silence." They were silent and he took a step closer to them, "You stopped the drill right?" I focused my ears and I began to hear the humming sound that the Doctor was.

"Yes."

"You're sure about that."

"Yes." Tony was getting defensive. The Doctor got on the ground and pressed his ear to it,

"So if you've stopped the drill…why can I still hear the drilling?" they got closer, "It's under the ground."

"That's not possible." The Doctor leapt to his feet. He soniced the readings before him explaining everything he was doing and explained that the blue grass was a warning. And that while they were drilling down someone else was drilling up. There were heat signals that were hot and cold and they were moving up towards and moving fast. He told Tony and Nasreen to get all the equipment and move to Tony's daughter's house. And that that wasn't a drill but transport,

"Should be here, ooo, soon." He shut it, "About twelve minutes. Whatever bio-programmed the earth is moving up." He started to walk away with some of the equipment, "Now."

"How can something be moving up from the earth's crust when there's nothing down there."

"You saw the readings." I was feeling a better as the poison was almost completely out of my system and was able to keep up with the others as we were making our way up the graveyard.

"Who are you people? I mean how can you know all this?" I smiled feeling the questioning in Nasreen and the fear coming off of Tony. The poison was leaving fast. She stopped and looked at the sky, "Woah! Did you see that?" We all turned to see red lightning bolts coming from the sky,

"No, No!" he stopped and picked up a rock and took a sling shot out of his pocket and aimed it at the red lightening. It hit and more of the force filed was shone. He soniced it.

"Energy signal originating from under the Earth. We're trapped."

"Doctor, something weird is going on here the graves are eating people." Ah Rory finally turned up.

"Not now Rory. Energy barrier invisible to the naked eye. Can't get out from the inside but non from the outside world can get in." Rory looked at us dumbfoundly,

"What? Ok, what about the Tardis?"

"The what?"

"Ah, no those energy patterns would mess with the circuits. Maybe with a little bit of time but we've only got about nine and a half minutes." Rory looked at his watch,

"Nine and a half minutes till what?"

"We're trapped and something's burrowing towards the surface." Thank you Nasreen. Short sweet and simple. I felt the worry come off of Tony and the woman. But I felt some excitement come off of the boy. Nasreen was more curious and Rory…well nothing new right? After you spend a lot of time with the Doctor you grow used to the weird and bizarre.

In all, just a normal trip when traveling with the Doctor.


	7. Promises

"Get everyone inside the church. Rory, I'll get her back." We all began to move to the church, but Rory hung back a little. Fear began to grow in his heart.

"What do you mean get her back? Where's she gone?" The Doctor and I stopped.

"She was taken. Into the earth."

"How." Anger began to build in him. "Why didn't you stop it?"

"I tried. I promise I tired."

"Well you should've tried harder." His voice rose and I placed a hand on his shoulder,

"Rory…"

"I'll find Amy. I'll keep you all safe I promise. Come on please. I need you alongside me." The Doctor turned and began to head back to the church. I took Rory's hand and pulled him along,

"Rory, believe me when I say we will get her back. When the Doctor makes a promise, he keeps his promise." Rory didn't say anything but I felt his heart lighten a little. Worry was still there but he anger was subsiding.

We made our way into the church and I felt question grow in the young woman,

"Where's Moe? Is he with you?"

"Stupid door I though I got it fixed."

"Dad!"

"Something's happened to him hasn't it?" The boy was smart.

"How do we get the door open?" I smiled at Nasreen.

"Can you guys clear away from the door for me?" They did and I smiled at them. It took one good strong kick and it swung open. The Doctor stared at me for a moment, "What? I learned a few tricks while I was here." He gave me a quirky smile before heading in.

We were setting up our new little base when I felt the exasperation grow in the young woman again,

"So we can't get out, we can't contact anyone, and something, something that took my husband is coming up through the earth."

"Yes, if we move quickly enough we can be ready."

"No." She was defiant and I was loosing my patience with her, "Stop. This has gone far enough. I mean what is this?"

"He's telling the truth love." Thank you dad.

"Come on, it's not the first time we've had no mobile or phone signals. Reception's always rubbish" She threw her hands in the air. I was getting fed up with her.

"Look, Ambrose, we saw one of the Doctor's friends get taken. You saw the lightening in the sky. I have seen the impossible today. And the only person, who has made any sense of it for me, is The Doctor."

"Him?" The disgust in her voice made me want to slap her. The Doctor popped up from behind a crate,

"Me?" And he disappeared again,

"Yes and do you have a problem with that?" I stepped closer so my eyes were locked with hers. I could feel the affect that my intimidation had on her. The Doctor popped up again,

"Phoenix, down." I backed down but I had set fear into her. Nobody has the right to talk to the Doctor like that.

"Can you get my dad back?" Ambrose shot a look at her son and the Doctor stopped moving about and looked at the boy. Everybody stopped and looked at the boy. The Doctor paused for a moment,

"Yes. But I need you to trust me and do exactly as I say from this second onwards because we are running out of time." He moved closer so now he was in front of Ambrose. Defiance grew in her again but when her eyes met mine it shrank a little.

"So tell us what to do." Her voice was harsh but she was trying to bite back tears.

"Tank you. We have eight minutes to set up a line of defense. Bring me every phone, every camera, every piece of recording device, or transmitting equipment you can find." They all dispersed, on the hunt for the list the Doctor had just spouted of. I stayed with him though. Once everyone was gone the Doctor looked at me.

"Why did you get so defensive earlier?"

"You shouldn't have to take that from anyone." He lifted my chin so my eyes met his. He had his grin plastered on his face and kissed my head,

"You are a one of a kind Phoenix." We moved outside so the Doctor could continue telling them what to do. He began to spout more things off, "Every burglar alarm. Ever movement sensor. Every security light. I want the whole area covered with sensors." They all began to tape things to walls and other structures of the church.

"Alright guys we need to be ready for whatever's coming up. I need a map of the village marking where all the cameras are going." He patted the boy on the shoulder making him the one for the job,

"I can't do the routes, I'm dyslexic."

"Oh that's alright I can't make a decent meringue. Draw like your life depends on it Elliot." He beamed at the boy and the boy beamed back. The Doctor always had a way with kids. Elliot ran out of the room to draw a map.

"Six minute Forty seconds." Rory was still outside hooking things up, "Anything moves we'll know." The doctor patted the old man on the back.

"Good lad." The Doctor ran back outside while I stayed with Nasreen and Tony. The Doctor came back in and started working with the readings again when Elliot came running back in with the map he made.

"Look at that. Perfect. Dyslexia never stopped Davinci or Einstein. And it's not stopping you."

"I don't understand what you're going to do?"

"Two phase plan. First the sensors and cameras will let us know when something arrives. Second if something does arrive I use this," he pulled out his sonic screw driver and pointed it at the screen, "to send a sonic pulse through that network of devices. A pulse which will temporarily incapacitate most things in the universe." The boy grinned,

"Knock 'em out. Cool."

"Lovely place to grow up around here." I leaned against the table as the boy and the Doctor talked. The boy really liked the Doctor.

"I suppose. I wanna live in the city one day. Soon as I'm old enough I'll be off."

"I was the same way when I grew up." I laughed and shook my head,

"I never wanted to stay home. I wanted to see the rest of the universe." The boys smiled at us,

"Did you get away?" I nodded and the Doctor grinned,

"Yeah,"

"Do you ever miss it?" A pain grew in my heart. I did miss it…terribly. The Doctor stopped and the gleam in his eyes faded along with his smile. I didn't have to read his heart to know his pain.

"So much." The boy looked to me and simply lowered my head.

"Is it monsters coming? Have you met monsters before?" The Doctor got on eye level with him,

"Yeah."

"Are you scared of them?"

"No there scared of me."

"Will you really get my dad back?"

"No question." The Doctor smiled at him then looked back at the screen,

"I left my headphones at home." The Doctor was distracted but I decided to go with the boy,

"I'll come with you." I walked with the boy out the church and we began our short stroll to his house.

"You're names Phoenix? It's different, I like it."

"Mhm. To you it is. But where I come from its normal."

"Where do you come from?"

"I'm from a place far away form here. I'm what you call a Starheart."

"A what?"

"Starheart. The stars were named after my people; I can read your heart as well. Like right now you're worried about your dad." He stopped and gapped at me, "You wish you could make time go back until yesterday when your dad was reading to you."

"How did you know!" I smiled at him,

"Starheart."

"Wow! So there's a whole planet of people like you?" Again I felt a pain in my heart.

"No… I'm the last of my kind." His head hung and a felt sadness come over him,

"What about the Doctor? Is he a Starheart as well?"

"No, the Doctor is a different kind of species."

"Is he the last of his kind as well?"

"Yes." Sadness hung over him but vanished quickly,

"Is he your boyfriend?" I laughed as we entered the house,

"No he's not my boyfriend." He ran into his room and came back with his headphones, "Cool, I like them."

"You do!"

"Mhm, they light up. Well, come on." I took his hand we walked back out. We were less than half way there when it became dark,

"Phoenix? What's going on?"

"I don't know… Come on. Move quickly now." We were heading up the hill when I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I whipped my head around but saw nothing.

"What is it?" There it was again,

"Quick, up the hill. Hurry." We reached the door but it wouldn't open. I saw something our of the corner of my eye again and again I saw nothing. He banged on the door.

"Doctor!"

"Mum!"

"Move over." He did and I began to kick the door.

"Elliot!"

"Phoenix!"

"Get the door open!" I kept kicking the door but it wouldn't budge.

"Phoenix…" I turned around and saw one of them coming towards us.

"Elliot, get behind me." He did and the banging on the other side kept going,

"Phoenix! What is it! Why'd you stop?"

"Elliot, I promise nothing will happen to you."

"Phoenix!" It kept getting closer. Elliot squeezed my hand and I squeezed it back. It was right in front of us. It was examining us. Then a mist came over us and Elliot lost consciousness. I however was just groggy.

"Interesting…" It hissed and another one appeared. One picked Elliot up and the other picked me up and everything became fuzzy.


	8. The Starheart and the Silurian Doctor

When I woke again I found that I was underground. What's more I was strapped to what looked like a standing up version of a table. I looked to my left and saw Amy,

"Amy." Her head shot up and her eyes were wide,

"Phoenix! What are you doing here?"

"Long story, good for another time. Now where am I?" I looked to my right to see a man, I assumed it was Moe. He had a long scar on his stomach. "And what happened to you?"

"You're in a lab. They dissected me."

"Great…" I felt a presence come into the room and my eyes shot forward spotting the Silurian doctor in front of me. I felt curiosity in him. I felt something else too. Something familiar about him,

"The red haired human female seems to be more resilient to the cold."

"I dressed for Rio!" He was going to dissect Amy.

"Leave her alone! You have me!" A nice attempt Moe but he's not interested you anymore. What was so familiar about him? Then it hit me. Of course! The stars. He once looked to the stars!

"Hey doctor." Nothing, "Malokeh." Now I got his attention,

"How do you know my name?" I ignored his question and presented him with my own,

"Tell me doctor what interests you more? The fact that my blood rejected your poison or that your decontamination process didn't register me as in need of it?" He came closer to me now and stood right in front of me,

"A long time ago you looked to the stars of Leo and Orion for help." Now I was playing off his emotions. I remembered a Silurian had once looked to my brother and my mother for help. "They found favor in you. But you lost hope in the stars and the Starhearts …after your family died. You went on studying humans. Then in time you came to realize that the stars were fading. And later you came to find that the planet was gone."

"Who are you? No ape could know that." I smiled at him feeling the curiosity grow,

"My name is Phoenix." He gapped at me,

"You're a Starheart! Are there more of you?" My head hung slightly,

"No… I'm the last of them." I raised my head to him, "Now Malokeh… wouldn't it be far more interesting to dissect a Starheart than a human female? Her structure is similar to that of the human male." I felt his interest peak, "To know how the structure of a Starheart works? The last of the Starhearts…" I felt worry grow in Amy and Moe,

"What are you doing!" I didn't answer Amy but focused on Malokeh.

"Very well. I shall dissect you first."

"No! Don't do that! Don't touch her with that!" He came closer with his scalpel and I shut my eyes. It wouldn't hurt to bad but I would be sore. I felt the cool steel meet my flesh and slowly a burning pain went down my body. I let out a small hiss of pain, it hurt more than I expected but it wasn't something I couldn't deal with. I felt the pain of understanding from Moe and a sense of regret from Amy. Then pure shock and extreme curiosity from Malokeh,

"My word… this is something I've never encountered before. Crystal veins with blue blood. A pure white heart… I've never seen this before!" He spent at least an hour maybe more examining me. My body was beginning to mend itself.

"Fascinating. You're body heals itself. It's starting to mend the cut I made. You'd never need to be sown up or have to be stitched back together. That explains why the poison didn't kill you. Hmm, leaves scaring though."

"Fades in time."

"Now… time to dissect the female ape." I hung my head. I had stalled him but I didn't get him off of wanting to dissect Amy. Just as we was getting closer to dissecting her an annocement came over the speakers,

"Area seventeen species diagnostic requested." It was repeated and the doctor left without a word,

"Yeah and stay out!" I couldn't help but let a small smile grace my lips at Amy's defiance. The next thing I knew my bounds were being opened. I looked to Amy who held the control,

"How'd you do that?" She smirked at Moe,

"You never picked a lizard man's pocket?" Once I was free I began to fall forward but Amy and Moe caught me,

"What's wrong?"

"My body is still healing…" I wasn't totally fixed yet and I was feeling very dizzy, "Leave me." They laid me down on the floor.

"What!"

"No!"

"Go, I'll be fine. I'll slow you down. I won't be long. I'll catch up. Now go." They did and I laid my head back onto the cold floor. It was going to take a very long time before I would be able to fully move again. I lied. Yes it would take a very longtime before I would be able to move. I felt a wave of exhaustion hit me and I began to loose consciousness.

I woke to the sounds of screaming. I gasped for breath and shot up. I wished I hadn't though because my body ached. I took in my surroundings. I was still on the floor and we had company. The doctor and the military guard were back. And they had Nasreen and the Doctor who right now was screaming in pain. I stood up as to the best of my ability,

"Ah Phoenix good to see you awake. I'm decontaminating now."

"Decontamination… no, no, NO!" The Doctor let out more screams,

"Please, stop this!" I watched as the Doctor was hit with a mass amount of pain. "Please!"

"It's alright. It won't harm you. I'm only neutralizing all your ape bacteria."

"I'm not an ape. Look at the scans. Two hearts. Totally different. Totally not ape! Removal of all human germs removes all things keeping me alive. Gah!"

"Please! Malokeh, listen to him! He's telling the truth!" He looked at the screens then turned the decontamination off.

"No complete the process."

"Oh, oh, that's much better thanks. Haven't got any celery do you? No not the right climate. Tomatoes perhaps? I'm the Doctor. Oh, and there's Nasreen good. See you've already met Phoenix here." I slumped to the floor again in pain. That far more excitement than I needed. Malokeh helped me up again and I leaned against the consol. He went over to Nasreen and woke her,

"Oh, a green man."

"Hello, who are you?"

"Restac, military commander."

"Oh, there's always a military isn't there." Malokeh began to explain how the drill or "weapon" was threatening the air pockets above their city. The Doctor tried to get Restac to agree to a trade for the humans they took for Alaya. She wouldn't hear of it. I tried to stay standing but it was too hard and I began to slowly sink to the floor again.

"I don't negotiate with apes. I'm going to send a clear message to those above the surface."

"What's that?"

"You're execution." They released the Doctor and Nasreen and the Doctor knelt beside me,

"What's wrong? What's happened?" I smiled weakly at him. I felt very tired but my strength was coming back. Slowly and with the help of the Doctor I stood up again,

"Nothing, nothing, I'm fine." He traced the scar that started at my collar bone and ran down my chest. Shivers were sent up my spine,

"We dissected her."

"You what?"

"Her internal structure is magnificent." The Doctor was going to go on a rampage but I grabbed his hand,

"I did it. I told him to do it." His eyes held a pain in them I didn't know and his voice held that pain as well,

"Why?"

"To save Amy from having to go through it." He let out a sigh and pressed his head to mine,

"You are… unbelievable." I smiled at him and then Restac shoved us down the hall to go to our execution. This was not how I wanted to spend my day.


	9. Emotions fly and Tempers rise

We were being lead down a corridor and I felt my strength coming back. My dizziness was going away and walking became easier. We kept walking and came to an area that looked like an underground jungle,

"These must be the only ones awake. The others must still be in hibernation."

"So why did they go into hibernation in the first place?" Nasreen wasn't really scared. She was calm and cool. She actually was very interested almost excited even.

"There astronomers predicted the planet heading to earth was on a crash course. They built a life underground and put themselves free from millennia in order to avert what they thought was the apocalypse."

"When in reality it was in the moon coming into alignment with the earth." Restac stopped and turned around. Malokeh's interest was at a high peak now,

"How could you know that?" The Doctor took a moment, debating on whether or not to tell them.

"Long time ago I met another tribe of Homoreptilia. Similar but not identical."

"Others of our species have survived?" Restec was filled with a glimmer of hope but the Doctor, unfortunately, had to burst her hope,

"The humans attacked them… They died. I'm sorry." Restec was filled with hate and anger.

"A vermin race." We continued on and I continued to feel the emotions come off of the group around me. Hate, anger, fear, excitement, regret.

"You're not authorized to do this."

"I am authorized to protect the safety of a species while they sleep."

"Oh, lovely place. Very gleaming."

"This is our court. And our place of execution." Then Amy came in with a gun,

"Let them go."

"Amy Pond. There's a girl to rely on." I felt another presence enter the room and looked behind me.

"You're covered both ways so don't try anything clever buster." Nasreen tuned around and I felt joy come off of her,

"Moe."

"Now let them go. Or I shoot. I'm warning you." But when Restec came closer I felt the courage in Amy dwindle to fear and then when Restec took the gun I felt all courage in her gone.

"Don't you touch her!" At times I felt as the though the Doctor might have slight feelings for Amy. Of course I wouldn't be able to know for sure but his actions sometimes say otherwise. The Silurian's took Moe's gun and Malokeh came to our aid,

"Alright Restec you've made your point."

"This is now a military tribunal. Go back to your laboratory Malokeh." I felt anger and defiance come off of them. But in the end Malokeh would be the one to give in.

"This isn't the way." Malokeh left and Restec felt triumphant.

"Prepare them for execution." They began to chain the others up to the posts.

"Ok sorry. As far as rescues go it didn't live up to its potential."

"I'm glad you're okay."

"Me too. Lizard men though?"

"Homoreptila they occupied the planet before humans. Now they want it back."

"After they've wiped out the human race." Nasreen seemed very calm though for the impending doom that was to come.

"Right. Preferred it when I didn't know to be honest. Phoenix, are you alright?" I felt concern come off Amy and regret,

"I'm fine Amy. My body heals fast."

"We shall see about that." And I felt Restec's foot come in contact with my back. Sending me sprawling to the floor.

"Leave her alone! Don't you dare touch a single hair on her head." Restec circled me,

"Sorry Doctor. Did I hit a nerve with you?" I stayed where I was watching. Feeling the things around me. "Does the Doctor have a soft spot for the Starheart?"

"I'm warning you!"

"Or what Doctor… you're in no position to threaten me."

"No…but she is." I kicked my foot out and took her legs out. I pinned her to the ground and threw my knuckles into her face until I was kicked off of her by another Silurian. I was sporting a nice scratch on my cheek but it quickly healed itself. I was detained and Restec was ticked.

"You can't harm me. My body repairs itself and your poison is ineffective."

"Can't I?" I felt something. A malice, cruel feeling. My eyes widened as to what she had in mind,

"You wouldn't…"

"I would."

"Would what? What would she do?" My eyes never left Restec but she circled over to the Doctor and pulled her knife out. I jerked slightly. Trying to lunge at her but they held me down. She traced the knife along the Doctors cheek. She didn't break the skin but she was tempting fate. She came closer to me and leaned in closer to me so no one else could hear,

"I don't need to be a Starheart to read your feelings on the Doctor." She pulled away and smirked at me. They didn't execute them right away. They waited.

"Why are they waiting?" Nasreen was such a curious human being. What do you think they're going to do with us?"

A video channel came up in front of us.

"Who is the ape leader. Who speaks for the apes."

"I speak for the…humans." Rory. I smiled. Good old Rory. "Some of us any way."

"Do you understand who we are?"

"Sort of…a bit… not really."

"We have ape hostages." The screen zoomed out,

"Phoenix! Doctor! Amy!"

"Moe! Moe! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine love. I found Elliot. I'm bringing him home."

"Amy I thought I'd lost you."

"What cause I was sucked into the ground. You're so clingy."

"Tony Mac!"

"Having fun down there?"

"Uh, not to interrupt but just a quick reminder, stay calm."

"Show me Alaya." I wasn't near them but I could read their faces. Worry. Fear. Something was wrong. "Show me and release her immediately unharmed or we will kill your friends one by one."

"No." Ambrose was quick to respond. Something defiantly happened,

"Steady now every one." I wanted to tell the Doctor that something was wrong but I couldn't not with out giving them away.

"Ambrose-" Her father tried to pull her back but she shook him off,

"Get off me dad. We didn't start this."

"Let Rory deal with this Ambrose. Eh?"

"We are not doing what you say anymore now give me back my family." There was a long pause and I felt the defiance grow within Restec. I was afraid, not for me but for the others.

"No. Execute the girl."

"Which one?" The Silurian holding me wanted to watch us both die.

"The red head. Then the Starheart."

"NO! NO! WAIT!"

"Rory! She's not speaking for us!" Rory was going to kill Ambrose for this. They unchained Amy and put her in front of the firing squad. Then they threw me to the ground beside her. My head hit the ground pain enveloped me. Slowly I raised my head and put my hand to where it made contact with the floor. Blue blood tainted my hands. I stayed on the ground and looked at the scene before me.

"There's no need for this!"

"Are you afraid Doctor? For which death?"

"Listen whatever you want we'll do it! AMY!"

"RORY!"

"Don't do this!"

"NO!" Then the video cut off. I lowered my head and shut my eyes. Ready to accept my fate even though I never got to tell the Doctor what I wanted to say.

"FIRE!"

"STOP!" I looked p to see Malokeh and Silurian in ornate dress.

"You want to star a war while the rest of us sleep Restec."

"The apes are attacking us."

"You're our protector not our commander Restec. Unchain them."

"I do not recognize your authority at the time Eldane."

"Then you must shoot me." Restecwas angry. She stormed up to Malokeh

"You woke him to undermine me."

"We're not monsters and neither are they."

"What is it about apes you love so much?"

"While you slept they've evolved. I've seen it myself."

"You used to hunt apes for sport. And when we came underground they bread and polluted this planet."

"Shush now Restec. Go and play soldiers. I'll let you know if I need you."

"You'll need me. Then we'll see." And with that she walked away. The Doctor fiddled with the video system and got it hooked up again,

"Rory! Hello!"

"Where's Amy?"

"She's fine. Look there she is."

"Just keeping you on your toes. Listen you need to get down here. Go to the drill storeroom there's a large patch of earth in the middle of the floor. The Silurians are going to send up transport disks to bring you back down using geothermal energy and gravity bubble technology. It's how they travel and frankly it's pretty cool. Bring Alaya we hand her over we can handle this now. Gotta dash. Hurry up." He cut the video and came over to me and the others,

"Well I say you got a fair bit to talk about."

"How so?"

"You both want the planet you both have a genuine claim to it."

"Are you authorized to negotiate on the behalf of humanity?"

"Me? No. but they are." He pointed Nasreen and Amy."

"What."

"No we're not."

"Of course you are! Amy Pond and Nasreen Chaudhry speaking for humanity. Couldn't ask for better ambassadors. Who has more fun than us?" Amy stood and made her way over to the Doctor,

"Is this what happens? In the future? The planet gets shared? Is this what we need to do?"

"What are you talking about?" Nasreen came over now as well,

"Oh, Nasreen., sorry probably worth mentioning at this stage. We travel in time a bit."

"Anything else?"

"There are fixed points in time where things must always stay the way they are. This is not one of them but an opportunity. A temporal tipping point. Whatever happens today will change future events create its own time line its own history. The future pivots around you. Here. Now. So do good… for humanity. And for earth."

"Right, no pressure there."

"We can't share the planet. Nobody on the surface is going to go for this it is just too bit a leap."

"Come on… be extraordinary."

"Oh, you…" She smiled and I knew everything was alright.

"Okay, bringing things to order. First meeting between the human race and homoreptila is now in session. Ha! Never said that before. That's fab." I rolled my eyes. "Carry on. Now Moe. Let's go get your son." The Doctor, Moe, Malokeh, and I went to find his son. The Doctor was rambling to Moe. And I thought about what all had happened.

"Phoenix…" I looked at Malokeh who had curiosity about him,

"Yes Malokeh?"

"Is something wrong?"

"No. I'm fine."

"I don't have to be a Starheart to know something's up." I smiled at him and then I looked to the Doctor who was still rambling with Moe. I let out a sigh, "It's the Doctor…isn't it." I looked up at him and then back down at my feet,

"It's okay Phoenix… to care about him. And maybe he cares about you too." I smiled up at him,

"Malokeh… You are a very observant person, but I fear that maybe the Doctor's heart is torn. I think that he cares for me but loves another."

"Child, I think you are both blind to one another's feelings. But in time…" I was about to question what he meant when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and saw the Doctor with a questioning look,

"How's your head?"

"I'm fine Doctor." He examined my head and then kissed it.

"Just making sure." We came to hall way with what looked like a chamber in it, "Elliot. There you are."

"If you've harmed him in any way." I put my hands on Moe's chest to keep him still.

"Of course not. I only store the young." He took hold of my hand and squeezed it. I felt the fear for his son in him. But I also noticed out of the corner of my eye that the Doctor looked rather… upset. His eyes seemed fixed on my hands.

"But why…" I couldn't tell whether the question was directed at me or to the doctor.

"I took samples of the young. Slowed their lifecycles a millionth of their normal rate. To study how they grew. What they needed. How they lived on the surface."

"You've been down here working by yourself all alone."

"My family through the millennia…for the last three hundred years just me. I never meant to harm your child."

"Malokeh, I rather love you." I put my hand on Malokeh's shoulder,

"Me too." He opened the door and we went in to see Elliot.

"Ell, it's dad."

"Dad."

"You're safe now."

"Where are we?"

"Well, ah, I gotta be honest with you son. We're in the center of the earth and there are lizard men."

"Wow."

"Elliot, I'm sorry I took my eye off you."

"It's ok. I forgive you. Phoenix!" He ran out and hugged me.

"Hello Elliot."

"Are you alright? You look awful."

"I'm fine."

"No you're not. You've got a scar and your head is bleeding." He turned to the Doctor, "You gotta take better care of your girlfriend Doctor." Malokeh and Moe stated to laugh and Doctor turned red while I smiled.

"You go on Doctor. I'll catch up."

"Malokeh…" I gripped his arm,

"Go, It was a pleasure to meet you Phoenix." I nodded to him and the Doctor took my hand and I followed him. Something didn't sit right with me though. Worry began to fester in my heart.

"Please be safe…"


	10. Peace may be a long way off

"Not bad for a first session. More similarities then differences."

"Transport has returned. Your friends are here." I was hit with a wall of bad feelings. I gripped the Doctor's arms,

"What's wrong? Phoenix…"

"Something's not right." I whispered in his ear. "Something's wrong… I can feel it."

"Don't worry, everything's under control. You're still shook up that's all. Ah, there they are." He waved to them. And I saw Elliot run to his mother,

"Mum!"

"Rory!" But then I saw the worst of my fears confirmed. I saw Tony Mac carrying something in his arms.

"Something's wrong… You were right…" Tony came forward.

"Doctor what's he carrying?" Oh Amy… if only… if only you knew… The Doctor moved forward,

"No," tony sat the life sized bundle on the ground.

"Don't do this. Tell me you didn't do this." The Doctor was angry. He had every right to be. We were on the verge of making peace between the humans and Silurian's.

The Doctor leaned down and let out a sigh. I felt fear and anxiety in the room. But I mostly felt guilt, anger, and fear come off of Ambrose. She killed her. She killed Alaya.

The Doctor removed the blanket to reveal what we had all feared. A dead Alaya. The Doctor covered her up again and let out and aggravated sigh and looked at the people before him.

"What did you do."

"It was me. I did it." The Doctor glared at Ambrose and Elliot began to move away.

"Mum…"

"I just wanted you back." He got out of his mothers grasp and went to his father. I felt anger and sadness come off of the boy. Fear gripped the woman. Fear and defiance. The Doctor went up to Eldane and pleaded,

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. You have to believe me. They're better than this."

"Eldane they really are, I've lived with them for hundreds of years they really are a good people. There will always be rebels amongst people. Of every race."

"This is our planet!"

"We had a chance here." The Doctor turned on Ambrose.

"Leave us alone."

"In the future when you talk about this you tell people there was a chance but you are so much less… than the best of humanity." I pulled the Doctor back some. I looked her in the eye,

"You have no idea what you've done. This is a war that humans could never win. They'd be wiped from the planet! There was a chance…" the guards returned and so did Restec.

Fear gripped the people around me. This was not going to end well.

They surrounded us.

"My sister." She saw the bundle on the floor and I felt fear and anger grip her. She kneeled beside it and hesitantly reached her hand out to it. Slowly she uncovered the top of it. She let out shill cries and sobs and I felt her heart ache. I felt guilt rise from Ambrose along with fear and disgust.

Anger began to rise from Restec as she covered the body again.

"And you want us to trust these apes Doctor?"

"One woman. She was scared for her family. She is not typical."

"I think she is." She turned on Ambrose.

"One person let us down but there is still a whole race of dazzling human beings up there. You were building something here! Come on! An alliance could work!"

"It's too late for that Doctor." What came off of Ambrose scared me,

"No… Ambrose … you didn't…" I turned around and looked at her father, "And you… you helped her with this?" The Doctor looked worried,

"Why…"

"Our drill is set to start burrowing again in fifteen minutes." Nasreen was outrages,

"What!"

"What choice did I have? They had Elliot."

"Don't do this. Don't call their bluff."

"Let us go back," her vain hope made me angry, "and you promise to never come to the surface again. We'll walk away, leave you alone." Anger and rage built inside of Restec.

"EXECUTE HER!"

"No!" The Doctor dove forward and saved her.

"Everybody back to the lab."

"EXECUTE ALL THE APES!" The Doctor used his screw driver and soniced their weapons.

"This is a deadly weapon stay back."

"Take everyone to the lab." I ran and in my heart I knew that peace would be a long, long way off.


	11. Just remembering

"Go, I'll cover you." The Doctor stood there with his screw driver and I pulled Moe and Elliot down the hall,

"He knows what he's doing." We made it to the lab and a few moments later the Doctor came running in and he soniced the door and it closed.

"Elliot, you and your dad keep your eyes on that screen. Let me know if we get company. Amy keep reminding me how much time we have." He tossed the watch to her.

"Ok, ah, um, twelve and a half minutes until drill impact."

"Tony Mac. Sweaty forehead, dilated pupils. What are you hiding." He unbuttoned the top few on his shirt and opened it to reveal have the veins in his chest to appear green.

"Tony…" I felt sadness grow in Nasreen. She loved him. I knew she did. And he loved her. "What happened?" The Doctor soniced him,

"Alaya's sting. She said there's no cure. I'm dying aren't I." The Doctor took his screw driver and pointed it at the screen,

"You're not dying you're mutating."

"Is there anything to stop it?"

"Decontamination might work. Don't know. Eldane can you run the program on Tony?" Moe told us we had a lot of company coming.

"We're surrounded in here."

"The question is how do we stop the drill on time plus get out of here on time. Nasreen how do you feel about an energy pulse channeled up through the tunnels to the base of the drill."

"To blow up my life's work," I was helping Eldane strap Tony up to be decontaminating.

"Yes. Sorry no nice way of putting it."

"Right well you're going to have to do it before the drill hits the city in…"

"Eleven minutes forty seconds."

"Yes squeaky bun time." I rolled my eyes at his comment,

"Yes but the explosion is going to collapse all the surrounding tunnels we have to be out on the surface by then."

"But Restec and hertroops…" Thank you Rory for pointing out the obvious,

"I can help with that." I turned to Eldane and I felt the calmness that came off of him,

"Eldane…"

"I must Phoenix. Toxic fumigation. An emergency fail safe meant to protect my species from infection. A warning signal to occupy chrio-chambers. After that city wide fumigation by toxic gas then the city shuts down."

"You could end up killing your own people." Amy was worried but I knew Eldane knew what he was doing.

"Only those foolish enough to follow Restec."

"Eldane are you sure about this?" I took the Doctors hand.

"My priority is my races survival. The Earth isn't ready for us to return yet."

"No."

"Ten minutes left."

"But maybe it should be. So, here's a deal, everybody listening. Eldane you activate shut down. Set the time, a thousand years to sort the planet out. To be ready pass it on as legend or prophecy or religion. Some how make it known this planet is to be shared."

"Yeah, I get you." I smiled at Elliot.

"Nine minutes seven seconds."

"Yes new controls, my favorite. Energy pulse timed, primes, and set. Before we go energy barricade cancel it out quickly." He did and then I remembered,

"Fumigation launching."

"There's not much time for us to get from here to the surface Doctor."

"Ha ha super squeaky bun time. Get Reddy to fun for your lives Now."

"But the decontamination hasn't started on your friend."

"Well go." Tony stepped forward a little. "All of you. Go."

"We're not leaving you here."

"Grandad." Elliot ran to his grand father and hugged him,

"Eight minutes ten seconds."

"Now you look out for your mum you mustn't blame her. She only did what she thought was right."

"I'm not going to see you again am I."

"I'll be here." He put his hand over Elliot's heart, "Always. I love you boy." He hugged him. "You be sure he gets home safe."

"This is my fault" you bet it is Ambrose.

"I can't go back up there. I'd be a freak show. The technology down here is my only hope." Ambrose hugged him,

"I love you dad."

"Go. Go. Come on. Go."

"Toxic fumigation initiated return to chrio-chambers." The computerized voice made them run for the chambers.

"They're going." I looked at the screen over Amy's shoulder and saw them leaving.

"We're clear."

"Okay everyone follow Nasreen. Look for a blue box." He opened the door and they began to run.

"I'm sorry." Eldane sighed,

"For a moment I thought our race and the humans…"

"Yeah. Me too."

"Doctor, we've got less than six minutes."

"Go,go I'm right behind you." I looked back at Nasrreen and I knew she wouldn't be coming with us. I took Elliot's hand and ran. I ushered everyone into the Tardis.

"Where's Amy?"

"She went to get the Doctor." Rory turned around and ran after them. "Rory!" I chased after him.

"Rory Williams get back here now!"

"Phoenix!"

"Get back Elliot!" Then the Doctor ran past us all,

"Come on! No questions just get in! Yes I know it's big. Ambrose go up, then left, then left again. Get yourselves strapped up." He shut the door and a huge light appeared "Why here? Why now? It's getting wider."

"Doctor…what is it?" I moved closer but I he yanked me back and kept a firm arm around my waist,

"Don't go near it. "

"The crack from my bedroom wall."

"All ripped through the universe and time." He moved closer to it. He began to ramble on about it "…an explosion maybe."

"Four minutes fifty-seconds left to go."

"The angles laughed cos I didn't know. Prisoner zero, everybody knows but me."

"Doctor just leave it."

"But when there's an explosion there's shrapnel." He pulled out a cloth and reached into the crack. We were all on edge as he stuck his hand into it. "Ahhhhh! I've got something."

"What is it?" He pulled back and had something,

"I don't know."

"Doctor." Restec was dragging herself across the floor with a gun. She was gasping for breath. She was poisoned.

"You."

"Ok get in the TARDIS all of you."

"You did this." She raised the gun to the Doctor. I felt Rory's heart swell,

"Doctor!" He pushed the Doctor out of the way and she fired the gun. My heart hurt. I felt his pain as he fell to the ground in pain.

"Rory!" He was in pure agony. I leaned down beside him and put my hand on his head. I felt the pain course through his body.

"Rory, can you hear me?" The Doctor was sonicing him.

"I don't understand."

"Don't talk. Doctor is he alright." I could feel fear coming off of Amy "We have to get him onto the TARDIS."

"We were on the hill. I can't die here."

"Don't say that."

"You are so beautiful." He convulsing in pain. "I'm sorry." I put my hand on his head.

"ie' seere _be at peace _n'uma ner _feel pain no more_ kaima _sleep_."

"Doctor… help him."

"Amy move away from the light. If it touches you you'll be wiped from history. Move away now." He opened the door to the TARDIS and I stood up and pulled her up with me. She fought against me.

"No, I'm not leaving him. We have to help him."

"The lights already around him."

"I'm not leaving him!"

"We have to." The Doctor was helping me now. I felt all of her anger and sadness pour out of her. We threw her into the TARDIS and shut the door. He soniced it shut and grabbed her waist as she ran towards it.

"If he's absorbed into the light, I'll forget him." The Doctor took a moment and then threw the switch to the TARDIS. "What are you doing!" I slid to the floor and let a single tear slide down my face. "Doctor No!" She tried to push him away. To stop him. But it wasn't going to work. He was telling her to keep him in her mind. To not forget. I couldn't stand to listen. I tuned it out. The hurt in my heart plus Amy's hut was just too much. He was telling her to talk about Rory. To just keep talking about him. He sat her down and tried to get her to save his memory. He was begging her to remember. And she was. I could feel it. Then there was a jolt and we all went to the floor. The ring box fell onto the floor and then I felt a huge weight lifted off of me.

"No…" Amy…

"What were you saying?" I sighed. She forgot. The others came down the stairs,

"Blimey, this is mad."

"Doctor we've got five seconds till it all goes up." The Doctor's eyes found mine from across the room. I gave him a small nod. I still remembered. We all ran outside just in time to watch the drill go up in flames. I walked with Elliot for a little while the Doctor talked with Ambrose. He took my hand and we walked,

"Are you sad?"

"What?"

"You look sad." I let out a sigh,

"Just remembering an old friend." He smiled at me and I smiled back. Amy and the Doctor and I walked back to the TARDIS,

"You lot seem awfully quiet. Oh look there I am again. Hello me!" She waved to herself. Her smiled faded,

"Are you okay?"

"I thought I saw someone else there for a second. I need a holiday. Didn't we talk about Rio."

"You two go in. Just fix this lock, keeps jamming." I rolled my eyes

"You boys and your lock smithy." She went in and I stopped a moment,

"You're a horrible liar Doctor." He smiled and I went in as well. I sighed and slumped to the floor.

"Phoenix. You alright?"

"Yes. I'm fine." She turned around and went upstairs, "Just remembering."


	12. Longing for love and jumps through time

The Doctor walked back into the TARDIS with a worried look on his face. I was about to ask him what was wrong but he interrupted,

"Why are you on the floor?" I let out a sigh,

"She doesn't remember." The Doctor let out a sigh and walked over to me. He held out his hand and I took it. He pulled me up and held me. "She'll never remember Rory." I buried my head into the Doctor's shoulder. I loved this feeling but I was too mixed up to be having to deal with my own feelings and pulled back. He was really close and I saw that look in his eyes again, "I'll be in my room." I began to walk away but I felt a small pull on my arm. He turned me around and lifted my chin so my eyes met his. His thumb traced over my cheek and I shut my eyes to prevent the tears that wanted to spill over. I couldn't hold them back forever though and I felt a one slide past my eyelashes and down my cheek,

"Phoenix-"

"I just need to lie down." I hugged the Doctor and went into my room and shut the door. Once I hit the pillow I began to quietly sob. I was so confused and my emotions were mixed. I was crying over Rory and the Doctor. Rory was such a funny guy. He was a good friend too. The Doctor confused me. One moment I think he loves me and then another I think he loves Amy. I liked Amy. I really did but I began to realize just how much I missed the Doctor. I let out a sigh.

"Does he love me?" I never knew with him. He was always a mystery to me. I buried my head into my pillow and shut my eyes. Willing myself to go to sleep. When I woke up I didn't feel like getting up. And Amy came to my room and knocked on my door,

"Phoenix? Can I come in?" I got up off of my bed and opened the door. She came in and I shut the door again, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm just a little… tired is all. The whole ordeal with the Silurian's wore me out. My body isn't used to having it poked and prodded and dissected." I add a small laugh at the end to reassure her. She laughed too.

"Thank you by the way. For what you did. You didn't have to."

"No it's fine. Really it is." She patted my leg and stood up and hugged me.

"Well, we're in Rio so if you want to come with us…" She genuinely wanted me to come. She was different. She wasn't jealous or angry. She was happy. That killed me. She was happy but I wasn't. Rory was gone and she was happy. It wasn't her fault though.

"No I'm good really I am. I'm tired. But you go have fun. I've seen Rio." She smiled and I let her out of my room and shut the door again. I crawled back into my bed and lied there. I spent the whole day in my room. I heard a knock on my door. I opened the door and sighed when I saw the Doctor. He was resting his head against the door frame. His eyes were gleaming with something I hadn't seen in a long, long time.

"Phoenix…" I opened the door more and let him. I sat down on the bed and I felt the bed dip beside me. He let out a sigh and ruffled his hair a little, "Phoenix… what's wrong? You haven't left your room in three days." I didn't want to tell him, but then again I did. I just wasn't sure.

"Doctor… I don't know what to say." He pulled me closer to him and my head hit his chest.

"Just tell me what's on your heart." I let out a sigh and pushed myself off of the Doctor. I stood up and had my back to him. I felt his arms wrap around my waist and his lips were by my ear, "What's wrong. Tell me, I'm your friend. I can help you." I turned around in his arms and put my arms around his neck. I looked into his eyes and I saw that same thing in his eyes that I saw earlier. He pushed a strand of hair out of my face and his hand rested on my cheek,

"Remember when Amy asked me to describe the way I see you. And I told her that it was something I simply couldn't describe. Well, I've thought of a way to describe what I see. You're hair is like the night sky, a dark sea that flows around you." His hand trailed my face while the other held me in his grasp, "You're eyes hold the sparkle of all the stars in them and your skin is so fair to the touch." His fingers trailed my cheek down to my lips. My mind was turning to mush while my heart was racing a million miles an hour. But I still thought about when we were going to be executed. At first he seemed to have feelings for Amy and then… I don't know,

"Doctor," I couldn't look him in the eye, "Do you… do you have feelings for Amy?"

"What? Where did this come from?"

"Please, just… just answer my question." He lifted my chin again and I looked deep into his eyes. He was even closer now. His lips were just hovering over mine,

"You are the only person I have ever truly loved Phoenix." His lips were grazing over mine and I was sure that my knees were going to give.

"Doctor…" He pressed his lips to mine and slowly I kissed back. It was tender and sweet and held a sort of longing in them. Not a fierce hungriness but a longing for something that he had been denied for a long time. Love. The love of another person. His arms tightened around me and he pulled back only a little. Just enough to look me in the eyes.

"I have always loved you Phoenix." I smiled at him and pulled him back to me and my lips met his again in a sweet and loving kiss. My arms tightened around his neck and he smiled into the kiss. I couldn't help but smile as well.

We could've stayed like that forever but there was a jolt from the TARDIS which sent us sprawling to the floor. Quickly was stood up and ran out to the main control room.

"Doctor what's happening?"

"I don't know." He was throwing switches and levers left and right, "The TARDIS she's leaving but I don't know why." We were thrown backward into time and when we finally stopped I opened the door to find myself in England. Ledworth to be exact. I tapped the Doctor's shoulder,

"Doctor, is that what I think it is?" He looked to where I was pointing and gapped a little. It was the Doctor, Amy, and Rory. "I thought-"

"Yes, he was wiped from the face of the universe, so this must be my time line that we got thrown back into. They were standing in a changing room and the Doctor was picking up clothes,

"I'm saving the world, I need a decent shirt. To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show." He began to take his clothes off while Rory was telling him that he was stealing the clothes and trying to be the sensible one. Then we were thrown a few more minutes forward in time. The Doctor was standing in there on the roof as a space ship came down to the roof,

"Come oooon then! The Doctor will see you now!" The alien eye of the ship came down and scanned him. I leaned over to the Doctor,

"That's the Atraxi is it not?"

"Yes, they threatened to incinerate the planet if prisoner zero didn't vacate the human residence."

"Oh." When the Atraxi was done scanning the Doctor it noted that he wasn't of this world,

"No but I've put a lot of work into it. Mmm, I don't know. What do you think?" He held up two ties before throwing them back to Amy and Rory. I rolled my eyes and pulled at the Doctor's bow tie,

"Seriously? You could've gone with a tie but you go for the bow tie instead?"

"Hey bow ties are cool." I rolled my eyes at him and turned my focus back to the other Doctor and the Atraxi.

"Is this world important?"

"Important! What's that mean important? Six billion people live here is that important? And here's a better question, is this world a threat to the Atraxi? Oh come on, you're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world as threat?" It sent a small blue projection out and displayed moments throughout the world's history,

"No."

"Are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?" He threw the other tie back to Rory. More images of people in the worlds history appeared.

"No."

"Okay. One more, just one. Is this world protected?" Images of Cybermen, Daleks, and other villains were being projected "You're not the first lot to have come here. Oh there have been so many." The Doctor was tying on his bow tie and turned around for a moment, "And what you've got to ask is, what happened to them?" Pictures of the Doctor's last ten forms appeared and then during the tenth one the new Doctor walked through the projection grinning, "Hello. I'm the Doctor…" He was grinning from ear to ear with amusement, "basically…run." And that's exactly what they did.

We were jolted again and thrown forward into time again. "Doctor!" He was throwing more and more switches. Once the TARDIS had landed I opened the door again to reveal what looked like a war room. One of the World Wars to be precise. "Doctor where are we?"

"World War II. That is Winston Churchill." He pointed to a man with glasses and a cigar. "And that, is the Dalek." He pointed to the machine and I went wide eyed as I watched the scene before me. 

"Would you care for some tea?" The Doctor smacked the tray out of the Daleks "hand".

"A bit angry are we." He gave me a small grin but I could tell it pained him to watch this. I took his hand in mine and squeezed it. He smiled at me and pulled me to him and held me in his arms as the scene unfolded,

"Stop this! What are you doing here! What do you want?"

"We seek only to help you."

"To do what?"

"To win the war!" The Dalek had said it just a little too excitedly for my taste.

"Really, which war."

"I do not understand."

"This war against the Nazis, or your war. The war against the rest of the universe. The war against all life forms that are not Dalek."

"I do not understand. I am your solider."

"Oh yeah, okay, okay." He picked up a huge spanner and I gripped **my** Doctor and he held me tighter. "Okay solider, defend yourself." He began to strike it.

"What the devil!"

"You do not require tea?" Stupid Daleks.

"Stop it! Prime minister please!"

"Doctor!" he kept striking it.

"Oh come on! Fight back! I know you will!" He grabbed its eye stock and focused it on himself, "You want to! You know you do!"

"I must protest!"

"You hate me; you want to kill me. Well go on! Kill me. KILL ME!" He struck it again and Amy pulled him back,

"Doctor be careful."

"Please resist from striking me. I am your solider."

"YOU. ARE. MY. ENEMY. AND I AM YOURS!" He hit the Dalek each time he yelled. "You are everything I despise. The worst thing in all creation. I have defeated you time and time again. I've defeated you. I've sent you back into the Void. I've saved the whole of reality from you. I am the Doctor, and you are the Daleks!" He kicked the Dalek back and it spun around. It moved forward a little and turned to face them,

"Correct." It turned to the other Dalek, "Review testimony." It repeated the Doctors words,

"Testimony. What are you talking about? What testimony?"

"Transmitting testimony now."

"Transmit what, where."

"Testimony accepted."

"All of you get back."

"Marines get in here." The vain hope of Churchill was shot down when the Daleks killed the two marines.

"Stop it! Stop it please! You are my iron sides. I created you!"

"No." The Dalek shot Brasewells hand which turned out to be robotic, "We created you. Victory! Victory!"

"Well that explains why I couldn't get a reading off of him." We jumped ahead again,"I thought you had wiped them out?" He let out a sigh,

"Three escaped. Churchill believed that he was going to win the war with them. And Bracewell was their creation. A bomb actually. I defused it though, but in the end I lost the Daleks to save the earth." He reached for the controls though when the TARDIS jolted again,

"I might be able to try and fix her on our current point in time. It'll be a rough landing." He messed with the controls and it felt like hitting turbulence in an airplane. But we finally had landed.

When I opened the door I found that we were back in Rio. I shut it and sighed before leaning against the consol, "What caused that?"

"I think it might have been the cracks."

"What cracks?"

"The cracks. They're everywhere in everything. It's a split in the skin of the world. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched. Pressed together. A crack in the universe, and in time itself." He was right in front of me now and was close again. I pulled his chin closer to me and pressed my lips to his. He smiled and so did I. His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me even closer to him. The Doctor wasn't inexperienced that was for sure. He had gone through eleven regenerations. Each with its own personality and each with its own different set of companions. This one however was mine. His hands settled on my hips and his lips danced over mine. But before anything could even happen we heard a knock on the door.

"Doctor! Could you open the door!" The Doctor groaned and pulled away. I smiled at him and kissed him quick on the lips before pulling away and going to unlock the door. "Oh Phoenix, feeling better?"

"Hello Amy and yes I am."

"So what have you two been up to?"

"Nothing really. Just showing Phoenix where I planned on taking us to next." The Doctor must not want Amy to know. Very well. I won't say anything.

"So where we headed to?" The Doctor smiled,

"Oh just a little art gallery I know of." And with that we were off.


	13. Here we go again

"The Musee d'Orsay." I smiled as we walked in. I loved art and this was one of my favorites because it had my favorite painter in it. Van Gogh. We were in his exhibit and I was off looking at a painting and could still overhear Amy talking to the Doctor.

"You're being so nice to me. Why are you being so nice to me?" I could hear the accusing tone and the skepticism coming off of Amy.

"I'm always nice to you."

"Yeah but not like this." She proceeded to list of the last few places we've gone. "I think it's suspicious."

"What? It's not. There's nothing to be suspicious about." Way to go Doctor. First you act all jumpy then you make yourself look even guiltier.

"Okay, I was joking. Why aren't you?"" I sighed and walked over to a painting and sighed. It was my favorite Van Gogh painting. Starry Night. It was my favorite and portrayed the stars in a view that no one else could. Then I heard it. A child actually,

"Who is it?"

"It's the doctor! That's the doctor who took care of Van Gogh when he started to go mad." I sighed and walked back to the Doctor and Amy.

"Look! There it is! The actual one!" She dragged the Doctor by the hand and pulled him over to the church painting and held her small booklet up to it.

"Yes you almost get this feel like he's painting it right in front of you. Carving the colors into shapes" His words died on his tongue and I felt question grow in Amy. I moved closer and noticed what the Doctor was looking at. "Wait a minute."

"What?"

"It's just… look at that. Phoenix do you-"

"Yeah, I see it."

"What?"

"It's something not very good indeed." He ruffled the back of his hair,

"What's not good."

"Doctor…" He looked at me and I saw the look in his eye and I knew what it meant. Trouble.

"Look there in the window of the church."

"Is that a face."

"Something that shouldn't have been there." The Doctor nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. And not a nice face at all. I know evil when I see it and I see it there in that window." He left and went over to the curator that they were talking to earlier. "Excuse me if I can just interrupt for one second. Sorry everyone," he flashed his psychic paper, "um, routine inspection ministry of art and…artiness. Um…" I rolled my eyes at him.

"Doctor Black."

"Right, do you know what year that painting of the church was painted?"

"Ah well, what an interesting question, most people-"

"You don't have to hurry, when was it."

"Exactly?"

"As exactly as you can. Without a, long speech if possible. I'm in a hurry."

"Well in that case I'd say somewhere between the first and third of June."

"What year?"

"Eighteen ninety. That's the year jut before… before he killed himself."

"thank you sir you were very helpful indeed. Nice bow tie." He turned to us, "Bow ties are cool."

"Yours is very…"

"Ah, thank you. I mean, keep telling them stuff." He grabbed Amy and I's hands and went off "we have to go."

"What about the other pictures?"

"Art can wait. This is between life and death. We need to talk to Vincent Van Gogh." He shoved Amy forward a little and let go of her hand.

"Well this should be fun." The Doctor smirked at me and interlaced his fingers with mine. And with that our adventure began.


	14. Old friends in a new time

The TARDIS took us back to the exact date and time that Doctor Black told us and we found ourselves on a narrow empty street in the middle of the night. "Right so, here's the plan. We find Vincent, he leads us straight to the church, and I take care of our nasty friend."

"Easy peasey." I groaned,

"Don't say that. Whenever you think something's easy it's not." I saw a smile etch it's way across his face.

"Yes, well I suppose nothing will be easy for Mr. Van Gogh. Now he'll probably be in the local café. A sort of orangey light with chairs and tables outside."

"Like this." Amy pointed to a picture in her book, "Or indeed like that!" She looked up and saw the exact café in the book in front of her. I felt the joy and exhilaration swell through her.

"Yeah, exactly like that." I didn't have to read the Doctor to know that he was excited. I smiled at the two of them. Like kids in a candy store. He walked over to a waitress "Good evening, does the name Vincent Van Gogh ring a bell?"

"Unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?" Amy was confused not to say the least but she has yet to remember that he was not a popular man in his time.

"He's drunk, he's mad, and he never pays his bills." I could feel the anger coming off of her.

"Good painter though, eh?" Oh Doctor what a foolish question to ask. They laughed and so did all the other people around us. The Doctor and I sat down and I could hear the man of the hour coming now,

"Come on. One painting for one drink. That's not a bad deal."

"It wouldn't be a bad deal if the painting were any good. I can't hang that on the wall it scare the customers half to death. It's bad enough having you hear in person, let alone having you loaming over the customers day and night in a stupid hat. Pay money or get out."

"I could pay if you like." My eyes went wide and mouth hung up as I heard the Doctor's words. Now **that **was a dumb move.

"What?" Vincent turned around and the waiter stared in shock. I looked down at the table to hide my face.

"Well if you like I'll pay for the drink. Or I can pay for the painting so you can pay for the drink." I could feel the anger coming off of Vincent.

"Exactly who are you?"

"I'm… new in town."

"Well in that case you don't know three things: One I pay for my own drinks thank you," The place erupted with laughter and I felt my own anger boil, "Two, no one ever buys any of my paintings and if you did you would be laughed out of town. So if you want to stay in town I suggest you keep your cash to yourself. And three, your friends cute but you should keep you big nose out of other peoples business. Now come on just one more drink I'll pay tomorrow." The waiter grew agitated

"No." The two continued to bicker until Amy couldn't take it any more,

"Oh just shut up the pair of you. I would like a bottle of wine please which I will then share with whom ever I choose." She directed her attention to Vincent.

"That could be good."

"That's good by me." The waiter sighed.

"Good." Good old Amy. She sauntered inside with the man and came back out with the bottle. I still had not yet shown my face to him wanting to see the others reactions when they realize that this isn't the first time I've met Vincent Van Gogh.

"That accent of yours, you're from Holland like me."

"No." Amy said just at the same time as the Doctor said,

"Yes. She means yes. So let's start again. Hello, I'm the Doctor." He held his hand out and Vincent didn't take it,

"I knew it!"

"I'm sorry?"

"They're always sending doctors. But you won't be able to help"

"Oh I'm not that kind of doctor. That's incredible don't you think Amy?" He pointed to the picture beside Vincent and he held it up slightly.

"That is one of my favorites."

"One of my favorite whats? You've never seen this before."

"It's…one of my favorite paintings that I've never seen." She took a quick drink to hide her blunder.

"You can't have seen many paintings then. I know it's terrible. It's the best I can do. Your hair is…orange."

"Yes, so is yours."

"Yes it was more orange but now is of course less." The Doctor looked bored out of his mind at the love lost puppy before him. I smiled slightly and the Doctor took my hand under the table and a look crossed his face and he slid a hand across it,

"How could I have been so stupid. Vincent I have forgotten my manners. Vincent this is my other friend Phoenix." His heart swelled with joy and I looked up to see those bright blue eyes.

"Phoenix!" He leapt up and wrapped me up in a tight hug. "Is it really you?"

"Yes my dear friend it is me." He pulled back to look at me and smiled at me,

"Still have that beautiful dark hair and dazzling eyes I see." I smiled at him,

"I see you still have he scruffy beard." He rubbed the side of his cheek and laughed,

"Yes, I didn't know you were traveling with these folks. Why didn't you say something?"

"Just wanted to see how long it took you to realize that I was back."

"Back?" The Doctor and Amy were both dumbfounded.

"I told you Doctor, I've been here a while."

"You mean you knew Vincent Van Gogh and didn't think to tell me?" I smiled at him,

"Nope." He grinned at me and wrapped me in a hug,

"You are something else." I laughed. "So, um, Vincent painted any churches lately, or have any churchy plans, or churches, chapels, religious things like that. Something you'd like to get into fairly soon."

"Well there is one church I'm thinking of painting when the weather is right."

"That is very good news." Then there was a swell of pain and fear and I turned before the scream even came.

"HELP ME!"

"That on the other hand isn't very good news." I was already out of my chair and on my way when the Doctor grabbed my arm and a low voice, "You are always on the run to get there aren't you?" I smiled at him and we kept going. We came to the body and the poor girl was shredded.

"Oh no no no." I put my hand over her eyes,

"ie' seere _be at peace _kaima _slee."_

"Move all of you Vultures! This is my daughter. Who could've done this! Get away from her! Get that mad man out of here!" Her anger was mixed with fear and she threw a stone at him which the others began to do. That was it. I stood between them and the others as they backed away,

"May you all be cursed with this thing that forever more it may haunt you in your dreams." They stopped and looked at me with an almost fear in their eyes as my anger could be felt throughout them.

"Witch!" They proceeded to raise their arms to harm me but stopped when there was a loud crack of thunder and lightening.

"S-she has the power of God on her side! We are cursed!" Some ran in fear and others begged for forgiveness. And I simply walked away,

"What was that about?" I gave a small smile to them,

"Oh nothing really. Just a few threats followed up by some thunder and lightening. God was on our side this time." They gave me a cheeky grin.

"Anything like this ever happen before?"

"Only a week ago. This is a terrible time."

"As I thought. Come on we better get you home."

"But where are you staying tonight?"

"Oh you're very kind." I chuckled slightly as the Doctor took my hand and lead me down the street to Vincent's house.

"You could've asked."

"Now where's the fun in that?" I laughed and we continued on.


	15. The pain of it all

As we were walking down the street I saw something. Or rather someone. She had blonde hair and a face that seemed very familiar. As we walked by she looked at me and I looked at her and she gave me a wink. "Hello Phoenix." My heart stopped and I turned around to look at her but she was gone.

"Are you alright?" I looked at the Doctor who had concern etched across his face.

"You didn't see her?"

"See who?" He looked around but didn't see anyone. "Who'd you see?" I couldn't tell him. I just couldn't.

"Nobody. Must have been seeing things." He smiled and took my hand again but I gently pulled my hand out of his grasp.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I walked on a bit in front of him. In reality my heart was breaking. Because for once I was afraid. I was afraid of something I had seen. Someone I had seen before. A long time ago. I remembered it clearly. Too clearly actually. I stopped. "I'm going to head back to the TARDIS. I forgot something."

"I'll come with you-"

"No, that's quite alright. I can handle it on my own." The Doctor gave me a look, an almost hurt look. Only I was hurting far more than he was and I was afraid. I walked back to the TARDIS in the quiet dark unaware that someone was following me. I was too wrapped up in my thoughts. I opened the TARDIS and shut the door. I walked up the stairs and ran my hand across the console to receive a low hum in response. "Yeah girl it's me." I walked up and into the hall to the wardrobe where I rummaged through the clothes. "Where are you…" I kept rummaging through it until I found what I was looking for, "Ahha! There you are!"

I pulled it out and held it in front of me. I smiled and put my nose in it inhaling the scent. I pulled it on and smiled. Then the TARDIS shook and I stumbled towards the main console. I was jumping back in time. I held on tight and when it finally stopped I moved towards the door. I opened it and gasped at what I saw. First I saw the Doctor and Amy with someone that I hadn't seen for a long time,

"River." I wasn't too keen on River simply because I didn't trust her. Then it moved forward a bit more and I saw something I never wanted to see again. Weeping Angels. Nasty things they are. Creatures that could swallow worlds in darkness. I watched as the Doctor got caught in ones grasp but then talked his way out. Then I saw him and River arguing and then it jumped again. They weren't really lasting long they just kept jumping from one scene to another. I saw him and Amy in her room and then I saw her try to kiss him and he was trying to get away. I was angry yes but I couldn't help but chuckle at how the Doctor was trying desperately to get away. Then it jumped again. But this time I had done more than just jumped back a few months in the Doctors time line. I jumped a whole regeneration! It was the face that I met for the second time. The dark spiky hair with sideburns. The glasses, the suite and converses, and the long brown trench coat that I was wearing. This was the Doctor that I first began to fall in love with. I looked around to see River again but I saw a new woman as well. I could read it off of the others that she was Donna Noble. Must have been one of the Doctor's companions. But thing I noticed was the Doctor didn't recognize River and that she looked… older. Then it jumped again and I saw River hooking herself up to a machine and the Doctor was cuffed to a console. I saw a bright light and felt all of the emotions poor into me. And then… they were gone. **She **was gone.

Then it jumped again and I was thrown to the last place that I had ever wanted to be. Back on that beach. On a lonely ridge looking out towards the Doctor and his duplicate. And the last person I had wanted to see. She looked between the two and said something. The one replied and she looked to the other. I could feel the emotion coming off of her. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear. She smiled and I felt the joy and love swell in her and then I felt the pain and agony in my own heart as she kissed him. And he kissed her back. I was dying inside because I could feel my own pain along with my past's pain and her joy. It killed me and I slumped to the floor of the TARDIS and felt tears run down my face. Then it jumped again and threw me to the other side of the room. When it was done I gently stood up and collected myself before exiting the TARDIS. And that's when I noticed someone's presence.

"So, you came all the way back here **just **to grab a long brown trench coat?" I glanced at her and then began walking. I pulled the coat tighter around me to keep out the cold wind.

"Yes, is there a reason that you followed me?"

"Nope, just… curious, is all."

"And the Doctor put you up to this didn't he?"

"Yes. And I was curious as to why you were acting strange earlier. You seemed… frightened like you had seen a ghost."

"In a way… I did." She didn't push and I didn't answer. We kept going until we came to the house that I recognized as Vincent's house. We walked in and the two just looked at me. Vincent merely shrugged while the Doctor gave me a curious glance.

"Phoenix, may I have a word with you please?" I nodded and we made our way outside. "What's bothering you?"

"Why do you assume that?" It was sarcastic I know but I was a little on edge at the moment. He came closer to me and put his hand on my shoulder,

"You're wearing my jacket. From my last regeneration." I let out a sigh. "Want to tell me what's bothering you now?" I let out a sigh,

"I... I thought I saw someone."

"When we were on our way to Vincent's." I nodded, "Who was it?" I put my head down, avoiding eye contact. ''Phoenix..." He lifted my chin to look into his eyes, "Just tell me." My mouth opened and my breath was caught in my throat but I had managed to get the name out,

"Rose... I... I saw Rose. But you didn't see her." His face didn't change. It remained calm and steady and the fact that I couldn't read him made it even worse.

"So you went back to the TARDIS."

"Because I wanted to get this, yes. Yes I did. This is… special to me. This is what you wore when I last saw you. The last thing I saw of you. The TARDIS did another jump in time again." His eyes sparkled now with interest,

"Really? Where?" I put my head down and bit my lip,

"Oh, a few places."

"Like where?"

"Like you and River with the Angels. Then at the Library. And then..."

"Well, where else?"

"You and Rose." He stopped when he realized what I meant.

"Oh Phoenix... I... I'm so sorry."

"You know, that's the second time I've had to see that. Just before you had dropped me off in Wales. That was one of the last things I saw before you left me there. And I had to feel all that again twice." He came closer to me and wrapped me in his arms,

"I am so, so sorry Phoenix. That was a long time ago and I promise you that no one else means more to me than you. Honest, you are the best thing that's ever happened to me." I let him hold me but I was still on edge. His lips were by my ear and they moved towards my neck, "I promise you that you mean so much more to me. You are the only person in all of time and space that can understand me like you do." I turned in his arms and wrapped my arms around his neck. His arms tightened around my waist and he just held me there. Then Vincent poked his head out,

"You two going to join us?" We chuckled a bit and the Doctor took my hand before smiling at me. I smiled back at him,

"Yeah, we're coming." And with that we walked back in.


	16. The colors and the beast

"Right so there's a church around here yeah?" We walked back in and I smiled at the sight of all the pictures.

"What is it with you and churches?"

"Oh, just casual interest in 'em."

"Far from casual. You can't talk about anything else. He's a strange one."

"Okay so let's talk about you then. What are you interested in?"

"Well look around. Art. But it seems to me that there's so much more to the world than average eyes alone can see. If you look hard," Vincent's eyes shifted towards me, "There are more wonders in the universe than you could ever have dreamed of." The Doctor looked at me and smiled,

"You don't have to tell me."

"It's color. Color holds the key. I can hear the colors." He put his fingers to his lips as he listened, "Listen to the. Every time I step outside I feel nature is shouting at me. Come one. Come and get me. Come one! Come on! Capture my mystery!" He had the Doctor by the jacket and I could see the fire, the burning passion that was in him. 

"Maybe you've had enough coffee, now how about some nice calming tea? Let's get you a cup of Calmar or something. Amy, where's Amy?" I looked around and she wasn't there. Then I heard it. Her high pitched scream. "Oh no, NO!" He ran outside and I followed him.

"Amy! Amy?" We found her huddled on the ground, "What happened?"

"I don't know. I didn't see it. I was just looking at some of the paintings out here when something hit me from behind."

"It's okay he's gone now, we're here." Something wasn't right. I could feel something, or someone. I could feel a presence. But as I looked around I couldn't see anything.

"Doctor…"

"There!" Vincent was backing away and shouting at something. But there was nothing but the air.

"Vincent, take it easy. Easy." He kept backing up and turned around to grab something.

"What's he doing?" I looked at Amy who was standing up now. He picked up a pitch fork like utensil made of wood and pointed it in our direction.

"Oh dear." Nice Doctor. He charged at us. I felt the presence grow stronger and I began to feel a beat. I gasped. It was a heart beat. We moved out of the way just as he came near.

"Run! Run!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah that's a bit crazy. Amy, get inside. Phoenix, go with her."

"No."

"Phoenix-"

"Doctor he's not crazy!" He turned to Vincent who was swinging away at the air.

"It's just me Vincent. Look. It's just the Doctor." He moved closer and put his hands up. "No one else is here. So Vincent-" and then the Doctor was swatted to the ground. Amy screamed and I ran to the Doctor's side.

"I tried to tell you. He's not crazy. I felt a heart beat. Something is alive."

"Couldn't have told me a bit sooner could you?" he smacked him lightly and helped him up. A hole was ripped through one of the paintings that were hung out to dry.

"I can't see anything what is it!" Amy yelped again as Vincent swung his weapon through the air.

"That's a good question." The Doctor picked up a stick, "Let me help you."

"What? You can see him too?"

"Ah, ah, ah Yes!" He was swinging his stick around like a mad man in the air, "well… no… not really." I felt the beat move further away from me near the Doctor,

"Doctor!" The doctor was thrown again.

"You couldn't see him."

"No, no." he was panting and he looked to his right while on his back. "Oi." He jumped back up and started swinging at the air. Vincent and I both picked up sticks and charged at the place where the beast was actually at. We pushed him back. And chased him off. The Doctor was still swinging at the air.

"Doctor-"

"Not now."

"But-"

"Busy!"

"DOCTOR!"

"He's gone!" I laughed as the Doctor was very short of breath.

"Alright, yes… of course." We went back inside. "Now then. So he's invisible. But how come you can see him? And how come you can sense him? No stupid question, cos you can sense emotions and read living things hearts. What did it look like?" Vincent took one of his paintings of a vase of flowers and took white paint and painted over it.

"I'll show you."

"Oh, no! No! No!" The Doctor leaped out of his chair.

"What?" Amy gasped and put a hand to her mouth.

"It's just, um, that one was quite good." He let out a sigh, "Oh no." He kept painting, "And there you go." He began to sketch out what he saw and I rested my head on the Doctor's shoulder, "Tired Phoenix?" His voice was low and I snuggled into his shoulder and pulled the coat around me tighter. I stared at the fire and slowly my eyes began to close.

"Only a little." He kissed me head and lied his head on mine,

"Rest child of the stars." I was barely awake and in almost a whisper I replied,

"And you…Theta."


	17. The only beast and the only painter

I felt warm lips kiss my cheek and slowly my eyes fluttered open to see a smiling Doctor staring down at me, "Ello sleepy head." I smiled at stretched a bit before standing,

"So what'd I miss?" He wrapped his arms around me and spun me around a bit. I couldn't help but laugh,

"Nothing much. Vincent finished drawing a picture of the creature. Looks like an ugly chicken. I went back to the TARDIS and got my little machine that tells me what I'm up against. Got chased by said ugly chicken. Lost said thing. Got the living day lights scared out of me by Amy. Came and got you."

"Full night."

"But not as fun without you." I grinned and rolled my eyes, "We should go and wake Vincent."

"Alright." We headed off towards Vincent's room where the Doctor flung the door open and let the sun in,

"Wakey, wakey! Rise and shine. Breakfast is served in the court yard." The Doctor flung the window open, "Woah! What a morning." He clapped his hands as Vincent crawled out of bed, "Come on. And Amy's got a surprise for you."

"Is he always this much of a morning person?"

"You have no idea." We walked outside to be welcomed by a million sunflowers,

"I thought I'd brighten things up and to thank you for saving me last night."

"Ah."

"I thought you might possibly like to, perhaps, paint them… or something."

"Yes well they're not my favorite flower."

"You don't like sunflowers?" I leaned in towards the Doctor so my lips were by his ear,

"He doesn't care for them. Never really been his thing." The Doctor smiled and kissed my head.

"No it's not that I don't like them. I find them complex. Oh somewhere between living and dying." He continued on and the Doctor and I held back a laugh at the look on Amy's face, "A little disgusting. You know… they are a challenge."

"One that I'm sure you'll get around to. But, moving on. There's something I need to show you." We went inside and the Doctor pulled a bunch of pictures out of the creature and handed them to Vincent.

"That's him! And those eyes… without mercy."

"This is a creature called the Krafayis. They travel in space. They travel…as a pack. Savaging across the universe. Sometimes one of them gets left behind. And because they are a brutal race the others won't come back so…" I was spacing out thinking about the Creature and about Rose, "…an utterly abandoned Krafayis. And what hey do is kill until they are killed. Which usually doesn't happen because creatures usually can't see them."

"But I can."

"Yea and that puts you in a very unique position today my friend. To end this reign of terror. So feel like painting the church today?"

"What about the monster?"

"Don't worry. If you paint it he will come." Vincent got up,

"Okay. I'll get my things."

"Take your time. In no time, by this time tomorrow, we will be out of your hair." Vincent stopped and I felt the fall in his heart. He didn't want us to go. I could feel his sadness. He left the room. "This is risky."

"Riskier than normal?" Amy was curious as she leaned forward. The Doctor stood up and checked to make sure Vincent wasn't here.

"Think about it this is the middle of Vincent Van Gogh's greatest year if we're not careful this pleasant little trip could be the brutal murder of the greatest artist whoever lived. Half the pictures on the walls of the Musee D'orsey will disappear." He sat down almost defeated, "And it'll be our fault." He kept stewing there and I felt the pros and cons weighing in Amy's heart and I felt the growing pain in Vincent's heart. The Doctor stood up and went to go see Vincent. I stood outside the door with him and took his hand,

"Be gentle. He's hurting. We're the only friends he has." His loving eyes looked into mine and he rested his head against mine,

"Come with me?" I shut my eyes,

"No. This one is yours. My words will not mean as much as yours." He leaned down and gently placed his lips on mine. I kissed him back a little before pulling away,

"I love you Phoenix."

"And I love you Theta." I smiled and kissed the Doctor once more before he entered the room. I rested against the wall and took in the warm sun for the first time in a long, long time.


	18. Being unique and being old

As I stood outside the door I could hear Vincent's cries and I knew his pain. It was a raw pain that I've rarely ever come across. After a little while the Doctor came back out looking utterly defeated. His eyes locked with mine and I could see the turmoil in him. I opened my mouth to say something but Amy came up the stairs,

"What's happening?" The Doctor leaned against the ailing,

"We're leaving... Everyone knows he's a delicate man… just months from now he'll…he'll take his own life." He looked at her then pushed himself on the railing and began to head down the stairs.

"Don't say that." Her voice was but a whisper but the Doctor still heard it. "Please." He turned around and went back down the stairs. She looked at me and I felt the sadness in her. I sighed and put my hand on her shoulder,

"He is a delicate man," Her eyes were sad along with her heart, "but I shall talk to him." Her eyes brightened and so did her heart. She hugged me,

"Thank you." I sent her down the stairs and turned towards Vincent's door. I opened it to find a broken and weeping man.

"What do you want?"

"What I want is for you to get up. You are Vincent Van Gogh and have suffered more than any other person I've met. You have gone through years of abuse and still you weep. You are something unique Vincent. Something that very few understand. And one of those people is the Doctor." He didn't say a word. He only looked at me, "When you're ready." He looked at me and sniffed before standing up. He made himself presentable and gave me a hug,

"Thank you." I smiled.

"You are most welcome." We descended down the steps and into the house.

"I'm ready. Let's go." Vincent picked up a paint brush and the Doctor gave us a smile. While Vincent went and gathered his things the Doctor came up behind me and whispered,

"You're brilliant." I grinned,

"I know." And with that we left. We were walking down the little path to the church when Amy wrapped her arm around Vincent's.

"I'm sorry you're so sad."

"But I'm not. Sometimes these moods torture me for weeks or months, but I'm good now. If Amy Pond can solider on than so can Vincent Van Gogh." She laughed,

"I'm not soldiering on, I'm fine."

"Oh Amy, I hear the song of your sadness. You've lost someone I think." The Doctor and I began to look at each other and we almost stopped walking.

"How does he know that?"

"Vincent's an unusual man remember. He can hear the colors, see an invisible beast, see you as you truly are…" the Doctor let out a sigh, "He is a **very **peculiar man." I laughed a little,

"Kind of like you." He smiled at me and took my hand in his own. Amy's voice brought us back,

"I'm not sad."

"Then why are you crying?" Her smile faded and her hand went to her eye brushing a few tears away, "It's alright I understand."

"I'm not sure I do." The Doctor intervened,

"Ok. Ok! So, now, we must have a plan when the creature attacks we must-" Vincent cut in,

"We shall fight him again." I felt the anger burn in Vincent. The hatred for the creature.

"Well yes, tick, but last night we were lucky. Amy could've been killed. So this time, and for a start, we have to make sure I can see him too."

"And how are you going to do **that** exactly?" Good old Amy.

"The answer's in this box." He patted the briefcase, "I had an excellent, if smelly, godmother." We stopped as we saw the morning party head our way,

"Oh no. it's that poor girl from the village." Vincent's heart grew heavy with grief. He grieved for those who hated him. He was a remarkable man that much was for sure. As the family passed by mother gave us a look,

"Aa' lasser en lle coia orn n' omenta gurtha _May the leaves of your life tree never turn brown _Aa' menealle nauva calen ar' malta _May your ways be green and golden _Aa' menle nauva calen ar' ta hwesta e' ale'quenle _May thy paths be green and the breeze on thy back._" And as they passed the woman never gave us a second glance.

"You do have a plan don't you?" He thought about it,

"No." And with that we kept walking. "It's a thing like a plan but with more greatness." Then we came to the church where Vincent began to unload his things. I smiled at the sight of the church. I loved old things. I guess that's why I loved the Doctor. My sweet, old Theta.


	19. A night in church with burdens to bear

The Doctor was standing over Vincent as he set up his easel and chair, "You be sure to tell me if you see any... ya know... monsters." He had his hands on Vincent's shoulders who had a look that said he knew what he was doing.

"Yes, well, I may be mad, but I'm not stupid."

"No. Right. And," He knelt beside Vincent who was focused in on his painting, "to be honest... I'm not sure about mad either. Seems to me depression is a very complex-" Vincent put his finger to his mouth,

"Shhhh, I'm working." Vincent was so serious and the Doctor just had a stunned look on his face,

"Well, yeah, Vincent, paint. Do painting." And Vincent painted. He was working on the sky at the moment and the Doctor simply rambled,

"I remember watching Michelangelo painting the Sistine chapel, wow, what a whiner. Kept saying to him 'look if you're scarred of heights you shouldn't have taken the job then.'" Amy leaned back and shushed him. Poor Doctor, the one thing he couldn't deal with was silence and standing still. It was slowly getting darker and I was happy as can be sitting on the grass watching the scene before me. But the Doctor was still restless,

"And Picasso what a ghastly old goat. I kept telling him," The Doctor put his hands on Vincent's shoulders, "Concentrate Pablo, it's one eye on either side of the face." Amy pulled on the Doctor's shoulder,

"Quiet." The Doctor was defeated and sat down on the grass beside me. He put his face in his hands and sighed,

"Is this how time normally passes. **Really **slowly. In the right order." I smiled at him and he smiled back. I laid my head down on his lap and he leaned down and kissed me. I smiled at him,

"You just can's sit still can you?" He grinned at me,

"Nope. Never. I'm always on the move." I put hand on his cheek as he leaned into my touch, "But for you, I'd make the whole universe stand still for you." His eyes shined and I could see the truth in them. He really would make everything stand still for me.

"You are something else Doctor." He beamed,

"I know." and with that he stood up. "If there's one thing I can't stand it's an unpunctual alien attack." He began to pace while I sighed and lied back onto the grass.

"Are you okay? You seem a bit, oh if I didn't know you better I'd say nervous."

"There's just something that's not quite right." I felt something grow in me. Like I could feel something else. The creature. I could feel it's heart beat. I stood up and began to run towards the door of the church just as Vincent began to speak,

"There! He's at the window! "

"Where?"

"There on the right."

"As I thought. Come on. I'm going in."

"I'm coming too!" Vincent began to pick his stuff up and I stopped dead in my tracks with my hand resting on the door knob.

"No! You're Vincent Van Gogh. No."

"But you're not armed."

"I am."

"What with?"

"Overconfidence, this, and a small screw driver. I'm absolutely sorted." He patted the brief case that held his "secret weapon" as it were, "Just gotta find the right Krosatic setting and stun it with it. Sonic never fails. Amy, only one thought, one simple instruction, don't follow me under any circumstances. And Phoenix you should-" I smiled as he looked around wildly for me but didn't find me. Finally his eyes landed on me and I smiled at him, "NOOOOOOOO! Phoenix! Get back here!" I ran inside and moved deeper into the church. I was quiet and moved without sound. I heard a sound and turned around; half expecting it to be the Doctor. Only... it wasn't the Doctor.

"Ello Phoenix." My mind was whirling. My eyes were deceiving me they had to be because before me stood the blonde haired woman I had met so long ago,

"Rose?" She nodded, "Wh- how, I mean, what are you doing here?" She walked toward me a bit,

"The universe is at the Doctor's mercy again. The cracks are everywhere and in everything. Even my little parallel universe has them." She sighed and I could feel a sense of sadness in her, "Look, I know that you don't like me very much. Believe me I get that. And I know that I shouldn't be here but... the universe is being swallowed by the cracks. Everything is disappearing. Time is being undone and things are coming out of order."

"Why don't you just tell the Doctor yourself?" She gave me a sad smile and her heart became heavy,

"In this part of the Doctor's life I have no part to play. He has you now, and to be honest I think he loves you more than he ever could've loved me. You share a connection, a understanding that i never could be able to have." I heard a beeping and it was growing louder. The Doctor was getting closer. "Look just get the Doctor on those cracks, and don't tell him about seeing me again." She gave me a hug and didn't push her away. This was hard for her. "Take care of him." I nodded my head.

"Phoenix." I turned my head to see the Doctor,

"Are you mad. Coming in here alone like that!" He wrapped his arms around me in a hug and when I looked back Rose was gone. "I've already lost Rory. I'm not loosing you as well." I returned the Doctor's hug and over his shoulder I saw her. She gave me a sad smile and began to walk away. I shut my eyes and when I opened them she was gone. A single tear feel down my face and i hadn't realized it until the Doctor wiped my face, "Phoenix, are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine. I just..."

"Miss him. I know." he gave me another hug, "So do I." When he pulled back he put on his little detector and the beeping was on again. We went into a corridor and I could feel a pulse again as we came near the window that Vincent had seen the creature in. The Doctor held the mirror to it and saw nothing. He held up his screw driver and scanned the area. He looked at it and got nothing. We kept moving the beeping was getting faint and but the feeling of it's heart pounding away was still there. It was still in the church. He shut the machine off and let out a sigh, "Damn he's moved." And just then the Doctor was swatted away onto the floor by said invisible force. I screamed and ran to the Doctor who was lying unconscious on the floor,

"Theta. Theta wake up! Wake up!" I shook him some and tapped his face a little and he started to come about. He jumped up and pulled his screw driver and pointed it in the direction that the creature had come from before taking my hand and pulling me along with him. He took the machine off and looked back as we heard things clattering and crashing to the floor. He turned around only to be greeted by Amy,

"Doctor!"

"AHHHH! I thought I told you- oh never mind we'll talk about it later! Quick in here." He opened the door to what looked like a confessional booth and the Doctor climbed in one side while Amy and I climbed in another. Her breathing was heavy and I could feel the fear role off of her. His voice was but a whisper, "Absolutely…quiet…Can you breathe a little quieter please?"

"No…" I took Amy's hand and squeezed it,

"Hush Doctor. You're not making it any better. Amy… take deep silent breathes." She did and slowly her breathing was changing. She pulled the curtain back a bit,

"It's gone past."

"Shhhh." Then the creature punched a hole in our side. Amy screamed and I clenched my teeth as I felt something pierce my side "I think he heard us. Wow that is impressive hearing it's got. Not so impressive are our chances of survival."

"Hey! Are you looking for me sonny?" Good old Vincent. "Come on! Over here! Because I'm right here waitin for ya!" He was fighting it off with his chair. "Come on," He motioned for us to get behind him, "Quickly! Get behind me!" My hand was clamped on my side as we ran out of the box. We got behind him and the Doctor pointed his screw driver at it,

"Doing anything?"

"No." He tried again and we turned around and ran into the other room.

"Where is he?" The Doctor was spinning around looking for it. I held my side and calmed my breathing. Healing oneself is always easier when your adrenaline isn't going through the roof.

"Where do you think he is you idiot. Use your head!" He soniced it again,

"Anything?"

"Nothing. In fact he seems to rather enjoy it." Vincent started to circle again and Amy and I stayed behind him while the Doctor stayed where he was looking about the place for it.

"Duck!" He did. "Left!" He did and got smacked into a wall, "Right sorry. Your right my left." We ran to him and kept Vincent in front of us. I helped the Doctor back up who stopped when he noticed my shirt,

"You're bleeding."

"Yeah and I'm alright."

"You're bleeding!"

"Yeah, and I'm alright." I pulled my shirt up a bit to show him that the puncture was gone.

"Right. Yes the whole heal yourself thing. Okay. This is no good at all. I'm not crazy at all." Amy pulled on our arms,

"Oh come on! In here!" We ran into a side room and slammed the door behind us.

"Right okay. Here's the plan, Amy Rory." My eyes widened,

"Who?

"Sorry…ah, Vincent."

"What's the plan?"

"Ah, I dunno actually, haven't got a plan. But I am definitely just using this screw driver for screwing in screws." He shoved the device back into his pocket. Vincent started to walk away,

"Give me a second. I'll be back." We all rested with our backs against the door.

"I suppose we can try talking to him."

"Talking to him?" Amy thought he was crazy and so did I,

"Well, yes, it might be interesting to know his side of the story… yes. But maybe he's not really in the mood for conversation at this precise moment." The creature was banging ob the door, "Well, no harm trying. Listen." The creature hit the door again, "Listen! I know you can understand me even though I know you won't understand why you can understand me," The Doctor turned around so he was resting his hands on the door. "I also know, no ones talked to you for a pretty long time, but **please… **listen. We are also not from this planet. We are… alone. So trust me, I'm sure we can come to a kind of… ya know… understanding. And then, then who knows…" Then the glass window behind us shatters and Vincent comes running in with his easel in his hand with the three legs pointing out,

"Over here mate!" We rushed over to him. "It's moving around the room. Feeling it's way around."

"What?"

"It's like it's trapped. It's moving around the edges of the room."

"I can't. See. A thing." Amy was frightened but not as frightened as I thought she'd be. I looked at the Doctor who groaned and ran a hand over his face,

"I am really stupid."

"Oh get a grip. This is not a time to re-evaluate your self-esteem."

"No I am **really **stupid." His voice grew a bit softer and a bit harder, "And I'm growing old." He came back down to our level, "Why does it attack but never eat its victims. And why was it abandoned by its pack. And why is it feeling its way helplessly around the room. It can't see it's blind. And of course that explains why it has PERFECT HEARING!"

"And that also explains why it's turning around and heading straight for us!"

"Vincent, Vincent I wouldn't-"

"Get back! Get back!" He made us get far behind him as he held the easel and the creature came charging towards him. We watched and as the legs struck the creature and Vincent was lifted in the air I felt a pain shoot through my heart. I gasped and clenched my chest and grabbed the Doctor's arm,

"Phoenix!" Hot tears ran down my cheeks as the pain swelled in my heart. I cried out and gripped the Doctor even tighter. The creature fell down with easel stuck in him. Slowly the pain subsided and the Doctor pulled me back to him and held me tight as he moved towards Vincent and the creature.

"It wasn't without mercy at all. It was without sight." The Doctor and I knelt down beside the creature. Vincent had done more than injured the creature. "I didn't mean for that to happen. I only meant to wound it I never meant to… I never meant to…" A dark spot began to form on the ground and I could only assume it was the creatures blood.

"He's trying to say something."

"What is it?"

"I'm having trouble making it out, but I think he's saying… I'm…I'm"

"Afraid." The Doctor looked at me and nodded,

"I'm afraid." He put his hand on the creature even though he couldn't see it he could still feel it. I placed my hand on the creature as well and said an old prayer of passing on it. "There, there. Shhh, it's okay. It's okay. It'll be fine. Shhh, shhh." He let out a sigh and I closed my eyes as I felt the heartbeat die out. I could feel anger and sadness come over Vincent. He was upset with himself for killing the creature when he had no idea that it wasn't a monster.

"He was frightened. And he lashed out. Like humans so lash out when they're frightened. Like the villagers who scream at me. Like the children that throw stones at me."

"You know sometimes winning, winning is no fun at all." With that we all left the church and followed Vincent to a patch of land where we all lied on the ground in a circle facing the stars. Amy took Vincent's hand and mine and I took the Doctors. Vincent held his hand out to the Doctor,

"Hold my hand Doctor." He did, "Try to see what I see. We're sort of lucky we're still alive to see this beautiful world. Look at the sky. It's not dark and black and without character. The black is in fact deep blue. And over there! Lighter blue. And blowing through the blueness and the blackness, the winds swirling through the air. And there shining, burning, bursting through, the stars! Can you see how they roll their light? Everywhere we look, complex magic of nature blazes before our eyes."

"I've seen many things my friend, but you're right. Nothing as wonderful as the things you've seen." I felt his heart grow heavy with sorrow and grief,

"I will miss you terribly." We just sat there for a while and eventually I rolled over so I was curled up next to the Doctor while Vincent and Amy were talking. The Doctor put his arm around me and I rolled over onto my stomach to look him in the face,

"You know, it's always something new with you." He smiled at me,

"Ah but you love this kind of adventure, don't you?"

"Of course. Or else I wouldn't be here..." I smiled and stood up and started to walk away, "…I'd be with Jack at Torchwood." I looked back to see the Doctor's head shoot up and he jumped up and started to chase after me. He chased me all the way back to the cabin where he caught up to me and we collapsed on the ground,

"You'd never choose Jack and Torchwood over me and the TARDIS… Would you?" I leaned up and gently pressed my lips to his. Slowly he kissed me back before I pulled away,

"Never."


	20. Wonders of the universe

The next morning we met Vincent in his kitchen where he had handed us a picture he painted of himself, "I wish I had something of real value to give ya." The Doctor was grinning and Amy was giggling. The Doctor held it up to Vincent and grinned,

"Oh no, no, no I could never accept such an extraordinary gift." He gave it back to Vincent who felt slightly dejected,

"Very well, you're not the first to decline the offer." He set the painting aside and held his arms our, "Amy the blessed, the wonderful." She went up to him and kissed him on both cheeks,

"Oh be good to yourself. And be kind to yourself."

"I'll try my best."

"And maybe give the beard a bit of a trim before you next kiss someone." They laughed,

"I will, I will. And if you tire of this Doctor of yours then return and we will have children by the dozen." She made a face and laughed. "Doctor my friend," He held his hand out which the Doctor accepted, "We have fought monsters together and we have won. On my own I fear I may not do as well." The Doctor pulled him into a hug. I could see the look on the Doctor's face. His hearts were breaking. Vincent turned to me, "Phoenix, the beautiful the kind the woman of the stars." A question rose in Amy but soon died away, thinking it best to ask later, "I shall miss you." I gave him a hug, "Shall I see you again?"

"Of course. You know I'm always watching over you." He smiled at me. After we had said our goodbyes we left. We were on our way back to the TARDIS and didn't get but a few feet from the house when the Doctor stopped,

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I was thinking I may need a bitter something before we leave." Apparently Amy didn't get what he was thinking,

"Definitely not what I was thinking." He looked at the house then back to her making a 'what the devil?' face before calling up to the house, "Vincent!" Vincent stuck his head and torso, which was bare, out the window, "Got something I'd like to show you. Maybe just… tidy yourself up a bit first." He grinned at us. Vincent came down and followed us back to the TARDIS, "Now, you know we've had quite a few chats about the possibility that there might be more to life than normal people imagine," He groaned when he saw that the TARDIS was covered in posters for the circus,

"Yes."

"Well, brace yourself Vincent." Amy laughed and the Doctor slid his key down the paper effectively cutting it. He unlocked the door and opened it letting the door swing open for Vincent to walk in. He did and looked around at everything and I felt the wonder and the magic in him. He popped his head out and looked around then went around the TARDIS pushing on the walls, not believing what was in front of him. He came back around and looked at us before stepping back in the TARDIS,

"Now come on I'm the crazy one and you three have stayed sane." We stepped in after him and the Doctor took his hat off and put in the hat rack while Amy closed the door, "What do all of these things do?"

"Oh a huge a variety of things." He spun around the console before stopping, "This one her for example plays southing music. And, ah, this one makes a huge amount of noise." He looked to us and we nodded, "And this one makes everything go absolutely bonkers." We laughed as Vincent was thrown about the place,

"And this one?" He pointed to a few switches. The Doctor leaped toward him,

"Thos are friction quantomfibulators." He pointed to two more buttons. One was red and one was yellow.

"And these?"

"Ah, that's ketchup and that's mustard."

"Hm, nice. Come on, back to the café. And you can tell me about all of the wonders of the universe.

"Good, although, there's a little something I'd like to show you first." We exited and found ourselves in front of The Musee d'Orsay.

"Where are we?"

"Paris. 20010 A.D. and this is the mighty Musee d'Orsay, home to many of the world's greatest paintings in history."

"Well that's wonderful." Just then a child walked buy with a radio and Vincent was curious never having seen one before. But the Doctor intervened before he could ask,

"Ah, ignore that. I have something better to show you." And with that we headed into the museum. We passed many works of art and kept going up the stairs. When we got near the statue on the stairwell the Doctor stopped and imitated the pose of it. I laughed and pulled him along. We kept going, straight into the Vincent van Gogh gallery. We stopped once we were inside and Vincent simply looked around in awe. His heart swelled with amazement, question, and joy. The doctor went over to Doctor Black,

"Doctor Black, we met a few days ago I was asking you about the painting of the church and it was very helpful."

"Oh, yes, well glad to be of service. You were nice about my bow tie."

"Yes, and I must say today is another cracker if I may say so," I nudged the Doctor, "Right, I was just wondering…" Amy situated Vincent so he could hear what was being said, "Between you and me, in a hundred words, where do you think Van Gogh rates in the history of art?" Vincent's eyes were already red with some tears and his heart was swelling by the second. My heart was soaring with pure delight of it all.

"Well... um... big question, but, to me Van Gogh is the finest painter of them all. Certainly the most popular, great painter of all time. The most beloved, his command of color most magnificent. He transformed the pain of his tormented life into ecstatic beauty. Pain is easy to portray, but to use your passion and pain to portray the ecstasy and joy and magnificence of our world, no one had ever done it before. Perhaps no one ever will again. To my mind, that strange, wild man who roamed the fields of Provence was not only the world's greatest artist, but also one of the greatest men who ever lived." His heart was swelling with joy and happiness and a gratefulness that few had ever had. Tears were simply flowing free by this point and the Doctor took note and went to him,

"Vincent, I'm sorry, is it too much?" He hugged Vincent,

"No, they are tears of joy." He patted the Doctor on the shoulder and kissed me on the cheek before going to Doctor Black and kissing him on both cheeks, "Thank you sir. Thank you." He hugged him,

"Oh well you are quite welcome." He wasn't quite sure what to do.

"Sorry 'bout the beard." We walked away and I couldn't help but grin as I felt Doctor Black's heart grow with realization and amazement. But then it died just a little when he turned around and realized we weren't there anymore.

We had reentered the TARDIS and went back to Vincent's time. He exited the TARDIS feeling so lighthearted and happy.

"This changes everything. I'll start out tomorrow with my easel on my back a different man. But I still can't believe one of the haystacks was in the museum, how embarrassing."

"It's been a great adventure , and a great," The Doctor shook Vincent's hand before pulling him into a hug, "honor."

"You've turned out to be the first doctor **ever actually **to make a difference in my life."

"And I'm delighted. I will never forget you." Then it was Amy's turn.

"And you are sure marriage is out of the question?"

"Oh not this time." She hugged him, "I'm not really the marrying kind." She kissed his cheek before heading back into the TARDIS. Now it was my turn,

"When shall I see you again?" I sighed,

"In time. I promise you that I will see you again long before your time on this world ends. And now you know that when your time does end, your memory will live on. That is something that is truly a gift." He smiled and kissed my cheek,

"Be safe."

"And you." I headed back in and waved to Vincent.

"Come on, let's go back to the gallery right now!" Amy was excited. Her heart was full of excitement and joy. We went back to the gallery and walked towards the doors, "Time can be re-written. I know it can." The Doctor smiled at her and he took my hand in his own. He squeezed it knowing exactly what I was thinking. "Come on!"

She ran up the stairs, "Oh the long life of Vincent Van Gogh. There'll be hundreds of new paintings."

"I'm not sure there will." She was like an impatient child as we entered the room just before Vincent's,

"Come on!" Slowly we entered the room after her. And immediately I felt her heart drop with sorrow. She stood there in the middle of the room as Doctor Black spoke,

"We have here, the last work of Vincent Van Gogh who committed suicide at only thirty-seven. He is now acknowledged to be one of the foremost artists of the time. Now if you will follow me…" The Doctor and I approached Amy. She looked at us,

"So you were right. No new paintings. We didn't make a difference at all."

"I wouldn't say that. The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things...hey," He hugged her and I put my hand on her arm, "...the good things don't always soften the bad things; but vice-versa the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things and make them unimportant." He pulled back some and took her head in his hands, "And we defiantly added to his pile of good things. And…if you look carefully…" He pulled us over the painting of the church, "Maybe we did indeed make a, couple of… little changes."

"No Krafayis."

"No Krafayis." The Doctor got closer to the painting of the Church while Amy turned around and headed for another picture. I spun around and looked at the picture of the stars. I smiled because I saw my constellation in the mix of stars and my name in the top right corner of the painting. I smiled and turned around and followed the Doctor over to Amy who was staring at the picture of the sunflowers in a vase. The vase said "for Amy, Vincent." The Doctor let out a whistle.

"If we had got married out kids would have had very, very red hair."

"The ultimate ginger." Her heart lifted some. It was pain but a good kind of pain.

"The ultimate ginge." We laughed a laugh that is the remembrance of something good when something bad has come to pass. "Brighter than sunflowers. The Doctor gave her a side hug then pulled me to him. He let out a sigh after a few more minutes of simply standing there we decided to leave. It was a silent walk until we came to the TARDIS. Once we were inside Amy asked a question, "What did Vincent mean when he called you 'The woman of the stars'?" I smiled a little and the Doctor answered for me,

"Remember I told you that I see Phoenix as she truly is? That I can see the universe as it really is. Well there are a few in your world that can see the universe is at truly is like Edger Alan Poe but all he saw was the bad life, H.G. Wells who saw the wonders of the world, and Vincent Van Gogh who saw the bad and the good in the world. Those are the people who see the universe through different perspectives."

"Wait so you mean to tell me H.G. Wells had a time machine?" The Doctor scoffed,

"No. I took him for a few rides here and there." Her jaw dropped. The Doctor hit a few switches and we went back into space. Amy yawned and stretched,

"I think I'm gonna hit the sack. Don't go getting into trouble without me." She smiled at us before heading up the stairs to her room. I pulled the brown trench coat around me more and yawned as well. I felt arms wrap around me and I laid my head back on his chest,

"Tired."

"Mhm." I felt my legs being lifted out from under me. He took me to my room and laid me on the bed. He started to leave but I grabbed hold of his arm. I pulled him back so he was closer to me. "Stay with me?" He smiled and gently kissed my head.

"Alright. If you wish." I scooted over and the Doctor climbed in bed. His arm wrapped around my waist and my head on his shoulder,

"Good night Theta."

"Sleep well my love."


	21. New flat mate and strange happenings

**Sorry I haven't updated until now, I'v been extremely busy as of late and the holiday just came round so I have had time to update. Hope you like it. Enjoy.**

It had been about a week since we had seen Vincent and now we were headed for the fifth moon of Sidicalister. The TARDIS stopped and the Doctor opened the door.

"No Amy it's defiantly not the fifth moon of Sindicalister. I think I can see a-" There was a gust of wind and The Doctor was knocked out and so was I. We landed on the ground and the TARDIS began to disappear, "AMY!" It vanished, "AMY!" He let out a heavy sigh, "Amy…" I hit my head pretty hard and felt very light headed, "Phoenix! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" He helped me up nad took my head in his hands and looked all over to see if I had any bruises or anything.

"I'm fine Doctor." He gave me a hug and then pulled me along, "Come on we have to find out where we are." He tried to grab my hand but his went right through mine. More like I looked like a ghost. "Doctor…"

"Phoenix!" He kept grabbing for my hand but nothing happened. I kept vanishing.

"Doctor!" My scream died away and I vanished entirely. When I opened my eyes I found that I was back on the TARDIS. I wasn't corporeal yet but I was becoming solid again. I looked around to see Amy sitting on the steps, "Amy." Her head shot up and she ran over to me and tried to hug me but didn't get much.

"Where did you come from and why are you all ghost like?"

"I'm not sure what happened. I was with the Doctor and then I began to fade and now I've appeared here." She let out a sigh,

"I'm just happy that I'm not alone anymore." I laughed and hugged her. "Not sure what's wrong with the TARDIS though."

"Well let's have a look shall we." I went over to the main controls and gazed over them. "Hmm, I'm not quite as familiar with these settings as the last TARDIS but I mean all the controls seem fine. Nothing seems out of place."

"Should've seen it a few minutes ago. Everything was going haywire."

"Well we'll just have to wait. Who knows maybe we'll…" That's when it happened I began to fade again, "Amy…"

"Phoenix!" She kept reaching for me like the Doctor did but I vanished again. I opened my eyes to find my self on a street corner. I looked around and saw the Doctor,

"Doctor!" He turned and ran towards me enveloping me in a hug,

"Phoenix! What happened? Are you alright? Where did you go?"

"Doctor, slow down. I was on the TARDIS. I appeared on the TARDIS with Amy for about ten minutes and then appeared back here.

"Phoenix it's been a whole day since you vanished. Hmm, but that's understandable seeing how time in the TARDIS is different than time outside of it. And I think maybe the reason why you've been phasing as it were between the TARDIS and here is because you are connected to the TARDIS and to me. So therefore your molecular structure can't decide which living thing to be with." He took my hand and pulled me up to flat and rang the bell,

"What are we doing here?"

"You'll see." Before I could say anything a man with a set of pink keys opened the door. He was a bit chubby but he looked clean cut and nice,

"I love you." His look went from happy to confused,

"Well that's good cos I'm your new lodger. Do you know, this is going to be easier than I expected." The Doctor took the keys out of his hand and smiled.

"But I only put the advert up today I didn't put up my address."

"Well you're lucky I came along. More lucky than you know. Less of a professional more of an ancient armature. Quite frankly I'm an absolute dream." I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"I-I mean, man, I-I don't really know if I want you staying. And give me those keys. You can't have those!"

"Yes, quite right, have some rent." The Doctor handed him a paper bag stuffed with what I assumed was money, "That's probably quite a lot, isn't it... Looks like a lot. Is it a lot? I can never tell." He took my hand and squeezed past him into the house, "Don't spend it all on sweets. Unless you like sweets. I like sweets." He looked up the stairs then back at him. He leaned forward and air kissed both his cheeks. I looked down and shook my head. The Doctor was **never** good at acting normal. "That's how we greet each other now of days isn't it? I'm the Doctor. Well, they call me the Doctor. I don't know why. I call me the Doctor too. Still don't know why." The poor guy seem like he was at a loss for words,

"Craig, um, it's the Doctor?"

"Yup. Who lives upstairs?"

"Just some bloke."

"What's he look like?"

"Normal very quiet." There was loud sound from up above after he said this, "…usually." The doctor made his way to the door of Craig's flat, "Sorry, who are you again? Hello?" The Doctor ignored him and sauntered into the kitchen, "Excuse me!"

"Ah I suppose that's dry rot."

"Or damp or mildew."

"Or none of the above…"

"I'll get someone to fix it."

"No, I'll fix it. I'm good at fixing rot. Call me the rotmeister. No, I'm the Doctor. Don't call me the rotmeister." He grinned at me and I rolled my eyes and whispered,

"You're such a child." He beamed and leaned down,

"Oh but you love it." I only smiled at him seeing how I couldn't deny it. "This is the most beautiful parlor I have ever seen." He slid on to the counter and then pulled me too him so I was standing in front of him while he had his around me, "You are obviously a man of impeccable taste. I can stay. Can't I stay? Say I can stay Craig."

"You haven't even seen the room." I ran my hand down my face and shook my head.

"The room?"

"Your room."

"My room. Oh yes, my room! My room. Take me to my room." The doctor grinned loving every minute of this. Craig led us to the room and opened the door for us,

"Here, now this is Mark's old room. He owns the place. Moved out about a month ago." The Doctor patted the bed checking to see if it's soft or not. I rolled my eyes again. He could be such a pansy at times. "This uncle he'd never even heard of died and left a load of money in the will."

"How very convenient." The Doctor sniffed the air and looked around, "This'll do. Just right in fact. What do you think? Oh! Craig this is Phoenix." He turned to me and I smiled at him and shook his hand, "She's a star. No one like her." I looked at the Doctor who shrugged. I took a better look at the place pretending to decide whether I like it or not,

"It's nice, I'm not in favor of the wall paper in here, but I've seen worse." There was a loud clamor from above and we all looked to the ceiling. The Doctor licked his finger and stuck in the air and Craig just looked at him like he was mad.

"No time to loose, I'll take it. Ah! You want to see my credentials." He pulled out the psychic paper and showed it to Craig. He passed the paper behind his back and showed it to Craig again, "There national insurance number." Then he passed it behind his back again, "References." Craig's mouth dropped at what he saw,

"Is that a reference from the Archbishop of Canterbury?" My hand once again was sliding down my face. The Doctor grinned at me and I scowled at him,

"I'm his special favorite. Shhh. Are you hungry?" He turned to me, "You hungry? I'm hungry." He headed off towards the kitchen,

"I haven't got anything in." The Doctor rummaged through the fridge and pulled out a bunch of stuff,

"You got everything I need." He pulled a frying pan out and with an interesting French like voice said, "For omelet, order." He cracked an egg into the pan and picking up the pepper before resuming his normal voice, "So who's the girl on the fridge?" Craig looked towards the picture and I could feel his heart grow lighter and I could tell he really liked her,

"My friend Sophie."

"Girlfriend."

"Friend who's a girl. There's nothing going on." His smile widened and his heart was content. The doctor picked up some cheese and a cheese grater and began to shave the cheese off into the pan,

"Oh, that's completely normal. Works for me." He winked at me before going back to his cooking,

"Yeah met a work about a year ago. Call center."

"Oh really, a communications exchange. That could be handy." He ground more seasoning into the omelet.

"Yeah phones going down though. Boss is using a totally rubbish business model." The Doctor through some sort of ham or something into the omelet as well before going over to the fridge and opening it, "I don't know what to do. I've got a plan all worked out. I'm just a phone drone I can't go running in saying I know best." The Doctor squeezed some sort of dressing into the omelet before Craig continued, "Why am I telling you this? I don't even know you."

"Well I've got one of those faces. People don't stop blurting out their plans out while I'm around." The Doctor took a wooden spoon and began to mix all the ingredients together. I felt myself getting ready to fade again

"Um, I'll be back. I have to go make a call to my friend Amy." The Doctor looked at me and I gave him a knowing look. "Knowing Amy I may end up having to go and help her. So I'll say bye now just in case. I shook Craig's hand again,

"Nice to meet you Phoenix."

"And you." I went to the Doctor and kissed him quick on the lips, "I'll talk to you later."

"Tell Amy I said hello." I nodded before walking away. I walked to the door and opened it and then shut it staying out of view of Craig. Craig just paused for a moment before putting his hands together,

"Alright, where's your stuff?"

"Don't worry it'll materialize. If all goes to plan." That was the last thing I heard the Doctor say before I completely vanished.


	22. Companions coming to terms with things

I began to reappear on the TARDIS, which I might add was going a bit haywire at the moment, and saw Amy running around the counsel trying to figure out what to do.

"Oh come one! Which one! Which one! Oh, why won't you land!" When I had finally become solid I ran towards her and began to push a few buttons. In a moment the TARDIS settled down, "Phoenix!"

"Hello Amy. Miss me?" She threw her arms around my neck and smiled,

"I am so happy to see you."

"How long have I been gone?"

"About an hour or two."

"Hmm. So how are we?"

"Well besides the TARDIS refusing to land and the circuits creating sparks every few moments everything's been fine and dandy." Her Scottish accent dripped with sarcasm. We sat down on the stairs for a moment or two we sat in utter silence. "So what's going on then? With the Doctor I mean. Back on earth." I let out a sigh,

"Well, he's trying to pass as a normal human and move in with this lodger."

"Oh, so basically what you're tellin' me is the Doctor's tryin' to be normal." I sighed and nodded my head, "We are so gonna die." We laughed, "I can't even imagine the Doctor trying to be normal."

"Oh believe me, it's not a pretty sight. At all." After our laughter had subsided it fell quiet again,

"Tell me Phoenix, what do you thinks gonna happen to me? I mean don't get me wrong I love traveling with Doctor and all. But I'm human, I'll still grow old and eventually die one day. If I even live long enough to grow old what with the trouble we get into. But seriously, what's gonna happen to me? Will he just get bored and through me out?" I let out a sigh. I could feel it in her heart. She wasn't really concerned about growing old and dying or even dying because of some trouble we may get into traveling everywhere. The one thing Amy Pond feared most was being dropped back at home on earth by the Doctor and never seeing the universe again.

"That's not who the Doctor is. He doesn't drop people off when he gets bored of them. He's lost so many people. And not all of them he lost to death. He lost some to death, some simply chose to go back home, he lost one because her mind was going to burn and the only way to save he was to make her forget everything about him." I chuckled, "He lost Jack to death but Jack just keeps coming back…" I let out a sigh, "And some he's lost to a whole other parallel world. What I'm trying to say is, is that people always come and go in the Doctor's life. But he remembers each and everyone and each and every moment of those times he's spent with them. It was your choice to venture with him Amy as it was mine. You may leave some day Amy whether it was by your choice or not. But the Doctor will never leave his companions he never truly leaves them. He's always watching over them some how some way." I felt her heart lighten some at this.

"What about you? Do you age? Can you die?" I smiled at her,

"Yes Amy I can die. I do not age but I can die. But with a Starheart death is something that is far from ordinary. You saw my body repair itself when we that Silurian doctor dissected me. Well, if the body is repeatedly subjected to pain then the system in the body that repairs itself slowly begins to diminish because it's using up all its energy and life force to repair itself. That's why all my people died. But I'm also part of the stars. The stars are now bound to me. Since I am the last of my kind then the stars depend on me."

"I thought the stars were fading?"

"They are. But since I am still alive then they have slowed in their decay."

"So… if you died then…"

"Then all the stars would go out." She gave me a sad look and I could feel the sorrow she felt for me. She took my hand and gave me a small smile,

"But you'll never truly be alone. You've got the Doctor. And you've got me." I smiled at her.

"Yes, and I am glad of it." My and began to fade and I looked up at Amy and I could feel the fear coming off of her, "Don't worry. I'll be back. I turned on the communicator so when I go back I'll still be able to talk to-" I reappeared at the door of the flat, "-you. Bugger." I sighed and raised my and to knock on the door. But I stopped when I heard Craig talking,

"Listen, Mark and I had an arrangement where if you ever need me out of your hair just give me a shout. Okay." There was a slight pause before the Doctor said anything,

"Why would I want that?" I let out a sigh.

"Well incase you wanna bring around or a girlfriend or a…boyfriend." I held in my laughter so as not to give away that I was listening in.

"I think Phoenix would have my head if I brought home someone else."

"She your girlfriend then?" I waited in the silence to see what he said,

"Yeah, but more like soul mate I think." His voice was soft and tender and I smiled at his words, "She's the only person to actually understand me and what I say."

"Well, like I said just give me a shout."

"Oh I will, I'll shout… yes… something like…I WAS NOT EXPECTIN THIS!" I rolled my eyes and knocked on the door deciding to put Craig out of his misery of having to listen to the Doctor ramble. A few seconds later Craig opened the door,

"Phoenix?"

"Hello!"

"Hello, um, come in." The Doctor grinned from ear to ear and opened his arms as I walked right into them. He picked me up and spun me around.

"You've been gone for hours!"

"Well I had to help Amy out you know. She's quite lonely after Rory left." The Doctor's smile didn't falter but his eyes showed that they understood. He looked toward the rot in the corner on the ceiling,

"By the way, that," He pointed to the rot addressing Craig more than I, "the rot… I got the strangest feeling that we shouldn't touch it." He patted Craig on the shoulder and put his arm around my waist and ushered me towards his room, "How is Amy anyway?" Once the door was shut I answered his question,

"She's alright. I opened up the communication line so we can talk to her from here." He smiled at me and pulled me to him so our faces were just an inch apart,

"You, are brilliant." He kissed me quick on the lips before taking my hand and pulling me towards the bed and flopping down on it, "Earth to Pond. Earth to Pond. Come in Pond."

"Doctor!" There was a loud squealing sound and the Doctor adjusted his ear piece. I laughed a little at the face he made. Amt backed off the microphone a bit, "Sorry…"

"Could you not wreck my new earpiece Pond?" He was slightly annoyed but regained his calm demeanor. I felt Craig's heart lighten a bit and I assumed that he must have been talking to Sophie. I smiled, he was in love with her. And he was falling badly for her.]

"How's the TARDIS coming?" Amy thought about it for a second before she replied,

"Hmm, see for yourself." She held the microphone out and the sound emanated through the ear pierce making the Doctor sit up with worry,

"Ooo, nasty, she's stuck in a materialization loop. Trying to land again but she can't."

"Mhm, and whatever's stopping her is upstairs in that flat. So, go upstairs and sort it."

"Don't know what it is yet." The Doctor stood up on the bed so his head almost touched the ceiling, "Anything that can stop the TARDIS from landing is big. Scary big."

"Wait… are you scarred?" The Doctor kept talking but I wasn't listening because I felt a shift in Craig's heart. Curiosity had peeked in him and I felt it growing closer. I moved off the bed and placed my ear and hand against the wall at the exact spot where I felt it was strongest. I smiled to myself. He was curious as to what the Doctor was rambling on about.

"I can't go up there until I know what it is and how to deal with it." The Doctor began to bounce a little on the bed, "And it is vital that this, man upstairs, doesn't realize who and what I am. So no sonicing." His face lit up like a Christmas tree as he hopped on the bed even more. "No advance technology. I can only use this because it's on scramble." He hopped of the bed, "To anyone else hearing this conversation we are talking absolute gibberish." I smirked at him and folded my arms,

"Even to me I think you're talking absolute gibberish." He gave me a scowl but he couldn't keep the smile off his face for long. He kept talking and I felt Craig move farther away again and more of a "what in the world" feeling come over him. But I was quickly brought back to the conversation when I saw the Doctor pick up some tube of gel and start putting it up to his hair and putting droplets of it on, "Now all I've got to do is pass as a normal, ordinary human being. Now. So what could possibly go wrong?" I rolled my eyes and muttered to myself,

"Everything."

"Have you seen you?" He picked up a pair of Aviator sunglasses and put them on before heading towards the mirror,

"So you're just going to be sly. No helpful hints?

"Hmm, well, here's one. Bow tie. Get. Rid."

"Bow ties are cool." He perched the glasses on his nose still looking in the mirror before he turned around and face me. I held in my laughter but it was evident on my face that I found it quite amusing. "Come on Amy, I'm a normal bloke. Tell me what normal blokes do." He picked up a magazine off the table and flipped through it.

"The-y… watch telly, they play football, they go down to the pub." I went up to him and took the ear piece from him,

"Amy this is the Doctor we're talking about here. He probably doesn't even know how to work a telly let alone what football is. And heaven help us I don't want to watch this Time Lord try and drink himself silly." She laughed while he scowled and took the ear piece back,

"I'll take that. Thank you."

"I could do those things. I don't but I could." There was a loud racket above us causing us both to look up at the ceiling. "Hang on. Wait, wait, wait. Amy?" We could here her struggling to regain control and noticed the clocks going haywire, "Interesting. Localized time loop."

"What is that?" Amy was struggling but was still with us.

"Time distortion. Whatever's happening upstairs is still affecting you." Slowly the racket went away and Amy told us that the TARDIS had stopped rattling her about.

"How 'bout your end?"

"Mine's good."

"So, doesn't sound great but nothing to worry about?"

"No, no, no. Not really just keep the zig zag plotter on four." She groaned from the other end, "Amy I said the zig zag plotter."

"I pulled the zig zag plotter." Her Scottish accent became more prominent when she was annoyed.

"Are you standing with the door behind you?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, take two steps to your… right and pull it again." The Doctor acted out the motions and I chuckled. It was comical to watch him act it out. She let out a sigh and the Doctor continued, "Now since I'm not going to use the sonic, I've got work to do. Need to pick up a few items."

"Hey!" And it was too late the Doctor had already hung up and was pulling me to my feet.

"Doctor,"

"Just a few things from a local shop maybe. I don't know maybe I can find them in Craig's flat. What do you think? Should I just go but them or raid the flat?" He stopped rambling when he realized that my hands were on my hips and I was tapping my foot. "Oh." I sighed and slumped down on the bed, "Are you alright?" He sat down beside me and placed his hand over mine,

"I'm just tired is all Doctor. It may have been two days for you but it's still the same day for me." He lifted my chin and kissed me. It was sweet and loving and he leaned me back still staying in the kiss until my back hit the bed,

"Sleep. I'll be fine on my own. You get some rest." My eyes were already shut and I was too tired to say much of anything. He pulled the covers over me and kissed my head before shutting the light off, "I love you Phoenix." I heard the door open and just before it shut I cracked my eyes open a bit,

"I love you too Doctor." I saw his smile just before I fell into a peaceful slumber.


	23. A hot shower makes the dreams go away

_I looked around the room which appeared to be a council chamber and saw that I was alone. It was silent and the room seemed to have a dull, ill feeling to it. I wandered out of the chamber and into the hall which was just as empty and ill feeling as the chamber was. But as quiet as a whisper I heard it,_

"_Phoenix…" I whipped around to find no one._

"_Phoenix…" There it was again. I still saw no one. I kept walking until I came to the main hall. And there is where I saw it. A big stone box with markings along the outside of it. _

"_Phoenix." I drew closer to it as it started to glow._

"_Phoenix!" I ignored the voice and held my hand out to touch the box. _

"_Phoenix!" The voice grew louder as my hand touched the box. That's when I heard not one but a billion voices in my head. I saw planets burn and stars explode. I saw people die and heard every cry and plea. The voices growing louder and louder. Pain started to engulf me and my own cries of pain were mixing with those in my head,_

"_PHOENIX! PHOENIX! PHOENIX!" _

I shot up out of bed and looked around the room trying to gain my surroundings. The Doctor was standing there with concern filled eyes.

"Are you alright?" I was breathing hard and I still wasn't sure what had happened. "Phoenix, are you alright?" I looked up at him and nodded my head.

"Are you sure?" I nodded again and he sat down beside me, "You're crying." I touched my face and realized he was right. I could feel hot tears running down my cheeks. "What was it?"

"Just a dream."

"Do you want to tell me?"

"I…I…" I looked at the Doctor in the eyes for the first time since I had woken up, "I can't remember." I thought hard, trying to recall the terror that had escaped me. "I can't remember what it was. I can't remember anything." I was scarred and the Doctor wrapped his arms around me,

"There, there… can you remember anything?" I shook my head,

"All I remember was that I was hurting. Oh Theta… The pain. That's all I remember was the pain." He held me tight and ran his hand through my hair trying to calm me down. He kissed my head and lied down on the bed pulling me with him. He held me to him as I started to calm down. "Doctor, I don't want to sleep. Not yet at least." He propped himself up on his elbow and looked at me,

"Do you want me to try? And look for your lost dream?" I bit my lip and nodded. "Alright then," He sat up opposite of me and placed his hands on either side of my temples. "Relax…" Slowly my eyes shut and I could feel the Doctor roaming inside my thoughts. He had tried a few and found that neither were the one he was looking for. Not only could the Doctor search my thoughts but I could feel him. Starhearts can't feel Time Lords hearts, but when the Doctor was joined with me I could. I could feel his sadness and loneliness. I could feel his joy and happiness. The thing that burned the most though was his love. The love he had for his friends, for those he cared for, for the planets… and for me. It was something new that I was sure no Starheart had ever felt before. "I think I may have found it."

"What is it?"

"I dunno. It's hard to get into. It's like your subconscious is trying to block it out. It's a lot stronger than your normal everyday subconscious. And yet you aren't your normal everyday person." He pressed further and though try as he might it wouldn't work. He removed his hands and I opened my eyes, "I didn't see what your dream was but whatever it is it's something that's not good. Something bad. Especially if it's that guarded. But I did feel one thing."

"What was that?"

"Pain. I felt the pain that you felt. That's the one thing that would come out of that dream." I stared at the Doctor and as if he knew what I was thinking he answered my unasked question,

"I don't know if it's the past or the future. It could be either one. If it's the past then we have nothing to worry about we know what that is." He Doctor's eyes seemed sad as I knew they would. If it was the past then it was the destruction of our home worlds. "But, if it's the future then we need to be careful, because that was a lot of pain. Too much for one person, more like a whole people or planet."

None of this was comforting at all. He sighed and pulled me to him. "Don't worry. We'll sort things out." I didn't sleep anymore. I simply lied there in the Doctor's arms for hours until the morning had finally come.

"Will you be okay if I go take a shower? I haven't had a good shower since we were thrown out of the TARDIS and that's what normal blokes do in the morning don't they?" I smiled at him and he smiled back,

"I'll be fine. I feel better now. Go take your shower." He leaned down and kissed me. He went to pull away but lingered a bit before finally pulling back. He grinned at me as he started to head for the shower, "And make sure you take that ear piece out! Don't need you to fry it in the shower!" He laughed,

"This thing will last a hundred years before a little water can short circuit it." I rolled my eyes. I heard the shower start and then the Doctor's singing. I laughed as he started to sing . I began to set up the Doctors contraption and in a half an hour I was done. As I lied there I could hear Craig outside the door, "Doctor."

"Hello!"

"How long are you gonna be in there?"

"Oh sorry. I like a good soak." There was a sound from up above and I looked to the ceiling before looking at the clocks o see if they were in a time loop.

"What the hell was that?"

"What did you say?"

"I'm just gonna go upstairs," I sat up straight, "see if he's okay."

"Sorry?" I hopped off the bed and ran for the door. I wretched it open just as Craig went out of the door,

"Craig!" I ran out the door to see Craig heading up the stairs, "Craig!" He turned around surprise that I was there,

"Oh, Phoenix. Hello."

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"I'm checking to make sure he's okay. I heard a noise and I thought that maybe he fell."

"Uh, that's very kind of you Craig, but uh, doesn't he have someone to, uh check on him?"

"No, I haven't seen anyone. I think he lives alone." He knocked on the door I gritted my teeth. The door opened a crack and I held my breath,

"Yes, hello."

"It's me, from downstairs, um, I heard a big bang."

"Thank you Craig, but I, uh, don't need your help." The door closed and I let out the breath I had been holding and Craig came down the stairs beside me, but not before the Doctor came bursting out in nothing but a towel, hair a mess. He pointed an electric tooth brush at the door,

"What happened? What's going on?" I put my hand over my mouth to stifle my laughter.

"Is that my tooth brush?" The Doctor looked at it before putting it down.

"Correct. You spoke to the man upstairs. What did he look like?"

"A lot better than you do at the moment what are you doing mate?"

"I thought you might be in trouble." Craig let out a chuckle,

"Thanks, but if I ever am you can come and save me with my tooth brush." And that's when I lost it. I burst into laughter and Craig smiled at me before letting his own laughter out as well. The phone rang and Craig went to answer it. I kept laughing and the Doctor came over to me and glared a little. I was chuckling now as I pushed his hair back behind his ears,

"You are bonkers." He smiled al little before pulling me to him. He went to kiss me but I stopped him, "You are soaking wet! I'm not kissing you when you're soakin' wet." I pulled back as I felt water creeping down my neck. My clothes were slightly damp and the Doctor walked up the stairs towards the door. The door that lead outside opened to reveal a women who I assumed was Sophie. She was busy locking the door and didn't notice me or the half naked Doctor standing on the stairs. Until she turned around,

"Oh! Uh, hello."

"Ah! Hello… The Doctor." He came down the stairs, "Uh, you must be Sophie." He air kissed each of her cheeks before taking another glance at the door upstairs before heading back into the house. I rolled my eyes and followed him in. Craig was on the phone and I just caught a bit of the conversation to know he was talking about football.

"Hang on," He stopped the Doctor, "We got a match today. Pub league. We're one down if you fancy it." The Doctor thought about it for a moment before looking at me then back to Craig,

"Pub league. A drinking competition?"

"No," He put the phone to his chest so the person on the other line couldn't hear, "football. Play football."

"Football, football, football… Football! Yes! Blokes play football. I'm good at football I think."

"You saved my life." He patted the Doctor on the cheek and he returned it, "Yeah I got somebody. See ya down there." The Doctor headed to the fridge and pulled out a jug of milk. "Hey Soph."

"Hey, I thought I'd come early." Sophie was sweet and I could tell she liked Craig. I could feel her happiness and content. "Meet your new flat mate."

"Do you play Sophie?" They both laughed an the Doctor took a drink from the jug,

"No, she just stands on the side lines. She's my mascot." I smacked the Doctor in the stomach and he made a sound and looked at me as he swallowed the gulp. He gave me 'what did I do look' and so I gave him 'you moron are you nuts' look.

"I'm your mascot? Mascot?" The look on her face was priceless.

"Well not my mascot. It's a football match, I can't exactly take a date."

"I didn't say I was your date."

"Neither did I." Tension was rising and even Mr. Thick, The Doctor, noticed.

"Better get dressed." I rolled my eyes and smacked him upside the head. He gave me a mock hurt look and gave me the jug before handing the tooth brush to Craig.

"There are spare kits, just there in the bottom drawer." The doctor kept the door, all but the sliver his head was sticking out, closed so you couldn't see in.

"Bit of a mess." He shut the door again and I rolled my eyes. I went to the cupboard and grabbed two glasses before grabbing a piece of toast, and apple, and a banana.

"Well what do you think?"

"Well, you didn't say he was gorgeous."

"Ah, ah, ah. He's mine." I laughed as I felt a bit of embarrassment run through her, "Don't worry. Hear that a lot." Just then the Doctor opened the door again. And again he was still in a towel,

"You unlocked the door. How did you do that? Those are your keys, you must have left them last time you came here."

"Yeah, but…I…how o you know these are my keys?" Craig's heart sped up and I felt the fear run through him as he closed his eyes,

"I've been holdin' them."

"I've got a second set." She held the second set up for the Doctor to see,

"You've got two sets of keys to someone else's house."

"Yeah?"

"So that means…You must like it hear too." I sighed and pushed the door open a bit so I could walk into the room. The Doctor shut it behind me. I sat the glasses down on the table and handed him the toast which I took and munched on, "What's this?" I pulled the kit out,

"Breakfast. Now get changed. I handed him the kit and turned around as I poured two glasses of milk. "Do you want and apple or a banana?"

"Banana. Bananas are good as a source of potassium. Apples are rubbish. I like bananas. Bananas are good. You know I invented the Banana daiquiri in 17th century France?"

"Okay!" I turned around once he was done and handed him the banana, "Banana it is." He grinned at me and I realized his shirt was backwards and helped him twist it right as he contacted Amy.

"So I'm going out. If I hang about the house all the time the man upstairs might get suspicious and notice me." I took a bite of apple and drank my milk as I watched the Doctor pace the room.

"Football. Alright. Well done. That's normal."

"Yeah…football… all outdoorsy…now football's the one with the sticks isn't it?" I slapped my forehead and let out a sigh and I could hear Amy's groan over the com. I gave the Doctor a quick run through on what football was and how to play before we exited the room. He clapped his hands together and looked at the others,

"Who's ready for some football?"


	24. A walk down memory lane

It was a bit of a walk to the filed that the boys would be playing at and Craig led the way with Doctor beside him. And of course the Doctor was talking his ear off. I laughed as I felt the confusion come off of Craig in waves. We had only been walking for ten minutes and I thought Craig was going to kill the Doctor.

"So how long have you two been together then?" I looked beside me to see Sophie walking beside me,

"Well, we've known each other for a long time. Over a lifetime really. But we've been "together" as it were for about a month or so. It's hard to tell with all the running around we do." She gave me an odd look and explained, "We do a lot of traveling." I felt the realization dawn on her,

"Well that sounds rather exciting. So why are you settling down then?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Well what with your boyfriend being Craig's flat mate and all." I hadn't thought that one through,

"Uh, yeah. Yeah we are. We decided that it would be best to slow down a bit."

"Ah, I see. That kind of settling down." I felt the scenario she had grow and I could feel my eyes widen by the second,

"Oh! Do you think I'm…no, no, no. We are **so** not that kind of settling down."

"Oh, so you're not pregnant then." I laughed a bit,

"No, I'm not pregnant." I glanced at the Doctor who was still in deep conversation but had tuned around and given me a big smile. I let out a sigh,

"Do you want a child?" I thought long and hard about that one,

"I honestly don't know. I mean it'd have to be a mutual thing. And we've both been in previous relationships that fell to pieces. And…" I looked at the Doctor and felt my own sadness and heartbreak grow at the thought, "Well… He was married once. He had kids and everything. But something terrible happened and… they all died." I remember the pain that the Doctor was in that day. I could feel his pain because I was feeling the same pain. We lost our worlds that day.

"Oh my…" I felt her grief for us and knew that she felt sorry for us. For him. "I'm so sorry. For both you. I remembered when we looked out from the TARDIS and watched as Gallifrey fell and as my world burned with his. I remember the wails of pain and grief that came from both of us. I remember the cries he made for his wife and his children and grandchildren. The grief that only can be felt by someone who had lost just as much. I could feel a tear run down my cheek and I felt someone's hand grasp mine and pull me back to reality. I looked up to see Sophie staring at me with eyes that held compassion,

"I'm sorry."

"No it's alright. That's a hard thing to loose." I wiped my eyes and laughed,

"I may not be pregnant but I'm as emotional as pregnant women today." She laughed and the mood was lightened. "So how about you and Craig? Hmm, anything going on between you two?" She sighed and I could feel her love and desperation,

"No, we're not together."

"You wish you were don't you." She looked at me and fell silent for a moment,

"Yeah. He's just so…"

"Oblivious. Blind. Can't see what's right in front of him. Can't take a hint to save his life." She laughed and nodded her head,

"Exactly like that. I mean it's like at times I think he likes me but then there are other times where I think he just…"

"Isn't there."

"Yeah. Like I mean it's not a typical friendship. I mean we say things to each other that you normally don't tell someone of the opposite sex unless they're your boyfriend or girlfriend. I just keep thinking that he's missing it." I smiled at her and squeezed her hand. I could feel the desperation she had for him to notice her and just how much love she had for him.

"I know **exactly **how you feel. He," I pointed to the Doctor before looking back at Sophie, "was the same. Mr. Thick couldn't figure it out to save his life. He was oblivious to it all as well."

"How'd you get past it?"

"Funny thing really. It happened after something really dramatic and life changing happened. You see we got into a… accident and… we lost a good friend. And I wouldn't talk to him for days. I was so upset and he popped by and I ended up just flat out asking him what he felt about me. It was a big emotional party." I chuckled a bit at the memory of how nervous and scarred I was.

"What then?"

"Well, he kissed me." She grinned at me,

"Is he good kisser?"

"**Very** good." We burst out laughing and the guys gave us strange looks which only made our laughing increase. Soon enough we came upon the field that the boys would be playing at. I felt Craig's heart race with anticipation and anxiety,

"What are you actually called? What's your proper name?"

"Just call me the Doctor." Sophie and I agreed with him,

"I can't go up to theses guys and go "Hey this is my new flat mate. He's called the Doctor."

"Why not?"

"Cos it's weird!" We came upon the group of men that were all dressed in the same kits as the Doctor and Craig,

"Hey Craig."

"Hey!" He patted the man on the back before going to talk with the others. The doctor shook hands with the tall black man and began to make his introduction,

"Hello, I'm Craig's new flat mate." He air kissed both of the mans cheeks, "Call me the Doctor."

"Alright Doctor. I'm Shawn. Where ya' strongest."

"Arms." I slapped my forehead while Craig explained,

"No he means what position on the field."

"Not sure. The front, the side. Don't know." I felt the uneasiness in Shawn grow to worry,

"You any good though?"

"I dunno. Let's find out." He proceeded to kick the ball up the air on his feet. I laughed as I took his coat from him and pulled it over my body. Sophie and I stood on the sideline with all of the other women that had come to watch. I watched as the Doctor got the ball and avoided all the opposing players. Sophie cheered as did I,

"He's not half bad."

"I know."

"Yes! Go!" The doctor passed it to Craig who passed it back to him then called out a play that the Doctor totally ignored, too caught up in the game. And Craig was left behind. I felt his disappointment and yet I felt my heart pump harder as the Doctor drew closer to the goal. Both Sophie and I were cheering now,

"Go Doctor! Go!" Then the Doctor scored and Sophie and I cheered along with the players as the Doctor was loving his little glory moment. Sophie and I jumped up and down,

"You're brilliant! You're amazing!" I laughed,

"Don't inflate his ego any more than it is." He gave me a wink and a blew him a kiss,

"Keep it up love!" The game went on and I was really getting into this. I liked to watch football and all but its better when you're actually watching a match and even better when your love's in the game. Craig set the ball up for a goal kick and when he went for it the Doctor came flying in and kicked it past the goalie. I cheered for him but I felt Craig's disappointment and I felt sorry for him. The Doctor lie on the ground laughing with pure joy as the others swarmed around him. I smiled. It was good to see him so happy. He looked like a normal bloke just playing a game of football with his friends. Normal. Now there's a word that you don't often put with the Doctor.

The Doctor sat up and smiled at me, "I love this game!" I laughed as he stood up and the game proceeded. The Doctor was absolutely brilliant at football. The crowd cheered the Doctor's name and he beamed with delight. He made headers and goal left and right and I could feel the joy and happiness coming of everyone. Except Craig. He still didn't feel important or needed in the game, and that the Doctor was stealing all the thunder.

After the game was over and the teams shook hands and went to their side of the filed I ran up to the Doctor who caught me in his arms and swung me around. I laughed and when he put me down and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, "You were brilliant!" He beamed at me while Shawn came over carrying a bag and handing out drinks to everyone,

"You are **so** on the team! We've got Crown and Anchor. We're going to annihilate them!" The Doctor stood right in front of Shawn and was in his face,

"Annihilate? No! No violence, do you understand me? Not while I'm around, not today, not ever. I'm the Doctor. The Oncoming Storm." I rolled my eyes and shook my head, "And you basically meant beat them in a football match, didn't you?" I could feel the confusion in the air as the Doctor realized his mistake,

"Yeah."

"Lovely. What sort of time?" Craig opened a can and it exploded in his face sending spray everywhere. Everyone laughed. So did we, but then it began to repeat. It was in a time loop like yesterday. I felt myself fading again.

"Doctor…" He looked at me and reached for me again.

"I'll talk to you on the communicator." I nodded my head as I vanished completely. Again I appeared on the TARDIS, which was shaking violently, just in time to hear the Doctor's voice,

"Amy? Phoenix?" I ran up beside Amy,

"It's happening again! What!"

"What does the scanner say?"

"A lot of nines."

"Sorry say that again? There was soap in the communicator."

"I told you!"

"I said there's a lot of nines. Is it good that they're nines? Tell me it's good that they are all nines." He paused,

"Yes, yes, yes it's, a, good. Zig zag plotter, zig zag plotter Amy." She did and there was another violent jolt from the ship and we were thrown again. "Amy? Phoenix?... are you there? Amy, Phoneix!"

"Yes…hello."

"Oh thank heavens. I thought for a moment the TARDIS had been flung off into the vortex with you inside it. Lost forever" He whistled. I felt fear run through Amy and made a mental note to smack the Doctor when I saw him next.

"Doctor!"

"You mean that could actually happen. You have **got **to get me out of here."

"No, cos I would bring us back. Doctor, shut up."

"How are the numbers?" I looked at the screen which had five on it,

"All fives."

"Fives… Even better. Still it means the effects are unbelievably powerful and dangerous but don't worry… Hang on okay." Amy's face showed the terror that was growing in her heart.

"Doctor! **Shut up**!"

"Hey!" Amy didn't know what to say she was so flustered, "Hang on…" She was upset and I didn't blame her.

"I've got some rewiring to do. Take care of her Phoenix." I let out a sigh. Amy sat down on the stairs and hugged her knees to her. I sat down beside her. We were silent for and I felt Amy's heart and the turmoil it was in. She was scarred but that wasn't what was eating away at her. We stayed silent until Amy broke the silence,

"What did Vincent mean by… the song of my sadness? And why was I crying for no reason at all? It doesn't make sense." I took a long time before I responded to her question,

"I think… I think you miss someone. The brain is a peculiar thing. I think that maybe you've forgotten someone but it's still tucked away in your brain somewhere. Hidden behind a door. You just haven't unlocked it yet." She smiled at me,

"That was **really **cheesy." We burst out into laughter,

"I know."

"That sounds like something the Doctor would say." I groaned,

"Oh it does. Ugh, don't **ever** tell him that." The laughter died down and she resumed a serious face,

"But that does help a bit. Thanks." I took her hand and smiled.

"Anytime Amy. Anytime."


	25. Talks of change, monkeys, and travels

Amy had fallen asleep and I pulled a blanket from the wardrobe and covered her with it so she wouldn't be too cold. I walked down the spiral staircase into the wardrobe and looked for a different outfit to wear. As I was browsing through all the clothes I came upon a rack that made me smile. It was all of the Doctor's old clothes. It had every outfit he had ever worn except the brown trench coat which was sitting in my room at the moment. I chuckled at the sight of the red and white trainers lying under the suites beside the leather jacket. I started to laugh fat the sight of the question mark umbrella and the multi colored suite. But I was crying with laughter when I came upon the celery and the long scarf. By this point I was rolling on the floor laughing. I finally stopped laughing and jus lied there on the floor to catch my breath. I lied there for the longest time. Finally I stood up and walked to a rack that was a little further down. It had just what I wanted. There was a black camisole and a loose dark blue shirt that hung off of one shoulder and black pants. I changed out of the clothes I had and then went looking for shoes. I came upon a pair of black trainers and pulled them on. I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled, but my smiled faded when I realized I was fading again.

When I rematerialized I was just outside the door, again. I sighed and knocked on the door. I was greeted by Craig, "Phoenix?"

"Hello again, is the Doctor here?" He shifted so I could come in and I saw the Doctor sitting in a chair with a lot of wires covering him, "Ah, I see."

"Phoenix! Come, sit down. Have a drink" Sophie smiled brightly at me,

"Hello Sophie." I walked over to her and she stood up and gave me a hug before handing me a glass of wine, "And you." I turned to the Doctor who smiled at me, "Please tell me you are not ripping something else apart? Or trying to fix something that isn't broken." He shot me a look before smiling at me,

"No I'm not actually. And Sophie here was just telling me about how work and life is dull." I looked to her before sitting on the arm of the Doctors chair and she nodded,

"Well I mean I work and go home and the whole world does the same thing really." I nodded in understanding as the Doctor went on,

"So what do you really want to do?" She looked at Craig before turning back to the Doctor,

"Don't laugh. I haven't even told Craig this…" Craig scratched the back of his head and I could feel the irritation and sadness come off of him at the fact that she was telling the Doctor something that **he **didn't know about. "I want to work… looking after animals. Maybe abroad. I saw this orangutan sanctuary of the telly." I felt her heart leap with excitement at the idea of it,

"So what's stopping you?" Craig quickly replied at the Doctor's question,

"She can't. You need loads of qualifications."

"Yeah, true. I guess it's… scary. I mean everyone I know lives 'round here. Like Craig got offered a job in London, better money, didn't take it." I knew why Craig hadn't taken it. He didn't want to leave Sophie.

"What's wrong with staying here?" Craig was content not to leave this place so long as Sophie didn't. "I can't see the point of London." There was a slight pause and the so the Doctor chimed in,

"Well perhaps that's you then. Perhaps you'll just have to stay here, secure and a little bit miserable until the day you drop. Better than trying and failing 'eh." The Doctor went back to working and I felt Sophie's heart swell with defiance,

"You think I'd fail?"

"Well everyone's got dreams Sophie, only few are going to achieve them so why pretend?" He took a drink of wine and spit back into his cup. I smacked the Doctor's arm and he gave me a 'what?' look and I rolled my eyes, "Perhaps in the whole wide universe a call centre is about where you were meant to be." Her defense rose,

"Why are you saying that? That's horrible!"

"Is it true?" The Doctor never took is eyes off his work and now she was angry,

"Of course it's not true! I'm not staying in a call centre all my life, I can do anything I want!" The Doctor stopped and smiled at her. Realization set in and heart leapt with relief and joy, "Ohhh, yeah! Right!" She laughed as she and the Doctor hit their fists together before she turned to Craig, "Oh my God did you see what he just did?" Craig didn't have a clue and was swept up in confusion,

"No, sorry, what's happening? Are you going to live with monkeys now?"

"It's a big old world Sophie, think about what's really keeping you here…" Her heart changed and I felt her love fall on Craig,

"I don't know…" It wasn't convincing. "I dunno…" After that we changed subject and they started in on us, "So what about you two then? Any plans for the future?" Before I could say anything the Doctor chimed in,

"Well we're thinking about taking some time off from our busy life and just hang for a bit. Sort of like a vacation really." Sophie understood from our conversation earlier but Craig didn't catch on,

"I'm sorry but what? A vacation from what?" Sophie answered for me,

"They travel a lot a just decided to settle down for a bit and take a breather."

"Aw, okay. So where have you two been?"

"Barcelona, Paris, America, we also went to Russia one time bad experience really." I laughed,

"We go to Cardiff a lot though. We have a friend who live there and we always pop by and pay him a visit."

Sophie sighed, "Sounds like a lot of fun." I gave he a warm smile,

"It's not always fun. We've gotten into our fair share of trouble. There was this one time when we-" I glanced at the Doctor telling him to shut up, "Well, it didn't end well."

"I used to live just outside of Cardiff before I ran into him again. Been traveling everywhere ever since. What about you? Have you gone anywhere?" Sophie shook her head,

"The furthest I've been is London. Craig here went to Scotland one time though didn't you Craig."

"Yeah it was a trip I went on with one of my mates. He was getting married and the wedding was in taking place in Scotland since that's where his family was."

"Scotland, beautiful place really. I met the Queen there. She knighted me that day. Me and my friend. She didn't fancy me too much. Anyway…" After a few more hours of talking Sophie announced she needed to go home. We said goodbye and she and Craig went to the door. The Doctor put all of his work on the floor before pulling me into his lap. I closed my eyes and rested my head on his chest. The warmth emanated off his body and buried my face in his chest,

"Tired?" His mouth was by my ear and I nodded. He wrapped his arms around me as I heard a sigh from Sophie just before the door closed. I could feel her heart and she longed for what the Doctor and I had. A minute or two later and Craig came back in. He let out a sigh before sitting down on the couch. The Doctor stood up still holding me, "I think it's time we went to bed. Phoenix has all but fallen asleep and you have work tomorrow."

"Yeah probably best. I'll clean up a bit first. Night Doctor." The Doctor carried me into his room and sat me on the arm chair in the room. I yawned and opened my eyes to see the contraption the Doctor had set up was sitting on the bed at the moment. The Doctor taking off his jacket and his suspenders were dangling by his legs while he contacted Amy,

"Right, shields up, lets scan." He spun it a bit before looking at the numbers,

"What you' getting?"

"Upstairs, no traces of high technology. Completely normal. No, no, no it can't be. It's too normal."

"Only for you can too normal be a problem. You said I could get lost forever just go upstairs."

"Not knowing and get myself killed then we really are lost. If I can just get a look in there. Hold on…" He stopped the contraption and looked at me, "Use the data bank get me the plans of this building. I want to know its history, the layout, everything. Meanwhile I shall recruit a spy."

"Is Phoenix there?"

"I'm here."

"Thanks for the blanket. Although remind me never to fall asleep on the floor. I have marks on my face from doin' that." I chuckled.

"Don't worry. You should've seen him when he fell asleep on the controls of the TARDIS. Had a bunch of symbols imprinted on his forehead. I have a picture somewhere I'll have to show you." She laughed while Doctor glared,

"When you find anything out Pond let me know. Doctor out." He grinned at me, "Always wanted to say that." I got up and grabbed the pillows and blankets that the Doctor had discarded on the floor earlier and mad a bed on the floor. I walked out into the hall to find Craig had gone to bed and went to the closet where I found spare pillows and blankets and grabbed them before heading back into our room. I made the floor as comfortable as I could before lying down on them.

"I've set up a mind barrier so you shouldn't have any dreams tonight." He proceeded to remove his bow tie and shirt while I sat up and pulled the top shirt off leaving only my camisole before I lied back down. After a moment I felt the Doctor pull me closer to him. My back pressed against his chest. "You won't be having any unwanted dreams tonight." He was warm and my heart fell in sink with both of his. His lips rested next to my ear as I let out a sigh, "I love you."

"I love you too Theta." And with that I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.


	26. Secreats revealed and questions asked

I woke to find the Doctor was not in our room. I sat up and yawned and went to stretch my back but found that it was stiff. I groaned as I stood up and tried to crack it. I went out into the living room and found the Doctor carrying a tray food,

"That looks good."

"Yes well it's not for you. It's for Craig." I stuck my tongue at him as he passed me by, "Craig! Craig." He knocked on the door, "Breakfast… it's normal." There was no reply and I felt worry rise in my heart, "Craig…" He opened the door to see him lying on the bed completely unresponsive, "Craig…" We rushed into the room and the Doctor set the tray down muttering to himself before picking up Craig's arm, "I told you **not** to touch it. Look what's that, Phoenix, go and get a damp wash cloth." I did as I was told and ran into the hallway and grabbed a cloth from the cabinet before running to the bathroom and running it under cold water. I rang it out before running back into the hall only to find the Doctor running past me towards the kitchen with a tea kettle in hand. I put the rag on Craig's head and wiped the sweat away off his brow. A few moments later the Doctor came running in with a kettle and a wooden spoon. He put the kettle in Craig's mouth and gently poured the liquid down his throat.

"I've got to go to work." His voice was scratching and horse and he was still burning with a fever. The Doctor told him he needed to rest and than told him to take another drink. "This planning meeting is important."

"You're important. You're gonna be fine." Craig went back to sleep and the Doctor and I left him alone.

"So what now?"

"We cover for him."

"Okay, you're idea not mine." We went back to the kitchen and empty all of the dishes and put the food away before heading back to the room and grabbing my coat. I followed the Doctor out the door and we walked hand in hand to Craig's office. When we got there we were greeted by Sophie,

"Hello you two, where's Craig?"

"He's fallen ill but should be better in a few hours. I cooked up an old recipe that drains the body of all those bad toxins." Sophie nodded, "Who's the boss?" She pointed to a man in a suite on the other side of the room, "Thanks." The Doctor strode off towards him and Sophie and I were left alone.

"Is Craig really okay?"

"Yeah , he was running a bit of a fever and all but the Doctor took care of him." She smiled at me. I sat at Craig's desk while the planning meeting went on and answered phones. I **hated **this job. It was so boring and dull. I couldn't take it. But just as I thought I was going to loose my sanity the meeting ended and the Doctor came out,

"How'd it go?"

"Good, I think it went really well." After about another hour or so Craig came bustling in,

"Afternoon." His boss was in a really good mood and didn't seem to mind that Craig was late,

"I'm so sorry…I-I don't know what happened… I've got no excuse." Then the Doctor sat up in the chair after he grabbed something off the floor,

"And I think that's not what my screen is telling me Mr. Lang." The Doctor grinned while Craig stood, confusion written all over his face,

"What's he doing here? What are you doing here?" I could feel anger coming off of him now.

"If that's your attitude Mr. Lang then I suggest you take your custom else where." Then he stuck his tongue out and blew sending Craig into fear for his job and anger at the Doctor.

"No, no, no, no, don't! That's one of my best clients!" The Doctor hung up,

"Ello Craig. How you feeling? Had some to kill, was curious. Never worked in an office before. Never worked anywhere." The Doctor was grinning from ear to ear like a child and Craig was ready to fall apart at the seams,

"You're insane!"

"Leave off the Doctor," His boss was just as happy as the Doctor was, "I love the Doctor. He was brilliant in the planning meeting." He gave the Doctor praise and he accepted it like a child accepts candy. Craig however didn't.

"You went to the planning meeting?" Craig was getting angrier,

"Yes, well, I was your representative. We don't need Mr. Lang anymore. Rude Mr. Lang."

"Here you go." Sophie handed him a cup of tea and a plate of custard biscuits I think, "And I found some custard cream."

"Sophie, my hero."

"Only cos I wouldn't get it for you." He mock glared at me,

"Hey Craig, I went on the web and applied for a wild life charity. They said I could always start as a volunteer straight way. Should I do it?" She genuinely wanted his approval and he was just confused by what was going on around him. Everything was falling apart for him.

"Yeah, Great. Yeah. Do it. Good, good, good." He didn't mean that and was going to regret that later.

"You look awful. About, turn. Bed. Now… Who next oh, Mr. Jorgensen." Craig was sent home confused and slightly hurt that the Doctor was taking over his life in such a short amount of time. "Mr. Jorgensen, can you hold I have to eat a biscuit." Craig left and Sophie felt slightly disappointed that Craig hadn't tried to maybe convince her to stay. The Doctor just smiled with a mouthful of biscuit.

When the Doctor and I finally finished we left after saying goodbye to Sophie and to the other office workers. We were half way down the street and the Doctor had his hand wrapped around mine, "So did you like that? Working in an office I mean."

"Yeah, I thought it was pretty fun. I mean the odd rude person like that Mr. Lang, but it as fun."

"You know most people don't like their job right?"

"Really? I wonder why." I rolled my eyes,

"Oh Doctor… I think it'd be best if we figured this out soon because I think we may be outstaying our welcome, or rather I think you are."

"Why do you say that?"

"Craig's feeling… useless. Like he isn't needed anywhere or by anyone. All anybody needs is you."

"Why? What've I done?" I sighed as we came upon the street that the flat was on,

"It's just… you really are all that anybody needs Doctor. To remind them of how special and magnificent they are. And how they actually matter and can do anything they want. Craig's just… not used to that." We were outside the house now and the Doctor unlocked the door,

"Well then I shall try to **not **be needed." He kissed my head,

"For you that'd be impossible." When we entered the flat we ran into a cat coming down the stairs.

"Have you been upstairs?" The cat meowed at him and the Doctor went to sit on the stairs with it, "Yes." It dragged the meow out this time like it was actually talking to him. The Doctor sat there and stroked the cat's fur,

"You talk to animals now too Doctor? My you are full of surprises." I saw the glare but my attention fell to the growing annoyance that was behind the door. Craig was not happy. Not happy one bit and he came to the door and hesitated for a moment,

"…that's bad that's very, very bad." Then he opened the door. "Oh, hello."

"I can't take this anymore. I want you to go." Craig turned back around and the Doctor gave me a look before standing up and following,

"I told you."

"Yes, I see what you mean." Craig pushed the paper bag of money to the Doctor,

"You can have this back and all."

"What've I done?"

"For starters, talking to a cat." The doctor threw the bag behind him,

"Lot's of people talk to cats. Phoenix here talks to cats." I raised my eyebrow at him and gave him a look that said 'are you serious'? He gave me a look that said 'shut up and go with it',

"And everybody loves you and you're better at football than me and my job! And now Sophie's all "Ooh monkeys! Monkeys!" And then," He walked towards the Doctors room and flung the door open, "There's that!" The Doctor rushed forward to see if he had dismantled his contraption,

"It's art! It's a statement of modern society. 'Ooh Ain't Modern Society Awful."

"Me and you, it's not gonna work out. You've only been here for three days and they've been the three weirdest days of my life!"

"Your days'll get a lot weirder if I go."

"Well, it was a good weird, and now it's a bad weird. I can't do this anymore!"

"Craig, I can't leave this place. I'm like you I can't see the point of anywhere else. Madrid, ha! What a dump. I really have to stay." In my head I made a mental note to hurt the Doctor for calling Madrid a dump.

"No you don't. You **have **to leave!"

"I can't go!"

"Just **get out**!" The Doctor took Craig by the shoulders,

"Right, the only way! I'm going to show you something, but shhh! Really shhh! Ohhh I'm gonna regret this! Okay! Right, first, general background!" Then he head butted him and I winced at the sight of it but laughed at the same time,

"You, hahaha, are so, hahahaha." I couldn't finish my sentence I was laughing too hard. Then Craig gasped and pointed at the Doctor while the Doctor gripped his head in agony and leaned up against the wall clutching his head,

"You're a…"

"Yes, yes." The Doctor was whispering,

"From…" He pointed to the ceiling, or rather the sky.

"Yes."

"And you've got a TARDIS."

"Yes, shhh, shhh. Eleventh." The Doctor pointed as his face while Craig put his hand over his mouth as the Doctor grabbed his shoulders, "Right, okay, specific details." And then he head butted him again and now I was just crying from laughing too hard as they both screamed in pain. And again Craig was pointing at the Doctor,

"Y-you saw my ad in the paper shop window!"

"Yes with this written on it which is odd cos Amy hasn't written it yet. Time travel, it can happen." He pointed at me,

"A-and you! Y-you're one as well. Y-you can read me! Y-you knew how I felt and, and…" Then he pointed to the contraption,

"That's a scanner! You used normal technological technology-" By this point I was laughing too hard to catch anything and only heard the Doctor yell at him to shut up." Then the Doctor sat on the bed and groaned while Craig was trying to shake off the pain,

"I am never, **never **doing that ever, **ever **again." He clicked his ear piece, "Amy,"

"That's Amy Pond!" Craig was freaking out,

"Well of course, you can understand us now, hoorah, got those plans yet?"

"Still searchin' for 'em."

"I've worked it out with psychic help from the cat."

"Cat?"

"Yes, I know. He's got a time engine in the flat upstairs. He's using innocent people to try and launch it. Whenever he does they get burnt up and there's the stain on the ceiling." Craig was still freaking out,

"Stain on the ceiling!"

"Great Craig. And you Miss Pond need to try not to get thrown off into the vortex." There was a clash upstairs.

"People are dying up there, people are dying, people are dy- people are dy-" The time loop was up again. "People are being killed!"

"Means someone's up there." We took off out the door and up the stairs but stopped when we heard Amy,

"Doctor! Hang on." Craig stopped and I felt an immense amount of fear grow in him.

"Craig come on someone… dying up there…" the Doctor and I noticed the keys. Sophie's keys,

"Sophie." We all rushed up to the door. "It's Sophie that's dying up there! Sophie!"

"Doctor! STOP!" We stopped at Amy's plea.

"It's Sophie!"

"Wait, wait. Amy?"

"Doctor stop! Are you upstairs?"

"Just going in."

"No, you can't be upstairs!"

"Of course I can be upstairs!"

"No, I've got the plans. You cannot be upstairs! It's a one story building. **There is no upstairs.**" We looked down at the stair case we had just run up before sonicing the door open. We just stood there for a second,

"What?" Craig was just as confused as me. There was a big consel in the middle of the room and, like the TARDIS, looked much bigger on the inside. "What?"

"Oh, oh!" The Doctor like always was the first to figure it out, "Of course. The time engine isn't in the flat, it **is** the flat. Someone's attempt to build a TARDIS."

"No there's always been an upstairs."

"Think about." I turned around and noticed that the door was a hologram type thing and it was flickering

"Yes! No, I don't…"

"Perception filter, it's more than a disguise it tricks your memory." There was a blood curdling scream and we all ran forward,

"Sophie! Sophie!" Craig ran towards her and grabbed her hand.

"Craig."

"Oh my God Sophie!" Her hand was being drawn by bolts of energy towards what looked like the control. I ran towards them and tried to pull as well.

"It's wanting her, it's pulling her to touch the activator."

"It's not gonna have her!"

The Doctor ran over with his screw driver and pointed it at the activator just as her hand touched the activator. She screamed and the Doctor screamed out of aggravation,

"Dead lock seal!"

"You've got to do something!" The Doctor overrode the deadlock seal and it released her and she slumped to the ground in Craig's arms.

"What? Why'd it let her go?" The Doctor walked over to where one of the corpses was lying at and a hologram appeared.

"You will help me."

"Right. Stop. Crashed ship. Let's see…Hello, I'm Captain Troy Handsome of International Rescue, please state the nature of your emergency."

"The ship has crashed, the crew are dead. A pilot is required."

"And you're the emergency crash program. A hologram. What you've been luring people up here so you can try them out." He pointed the screw driver at it and made it flip through its three forms. A little girl, a man, and an elderly man,

"You will help me, you will help me, you will help me." Sophie came to at this point and the Doctor was still interrogating the hologram,

"Their brains aren't strong enough they just burn, but you're stupid aren't you. You just keep trying."

"Seventeen people have been tried. Six billion four hundred thousand and twenty six remain." Sophie was standing up now and looked mad,

"Seriously **what** is going on?"

"Oh for goodness sake, the top floor of Craig's building is in reality and alien spaceship intent on scorching the population of this planet. Any questions. No. Good."

"Yes! I have questions." Craig held on to her.

"The correct pilot has been found."

"Yes I was a bit worried you were going to say that."

"He means you Doctor doesn't he!" Amy was yelling through the com now and I knew she was worried about him and about never getting out of the TARDIS and being thrown into the void. The beams took hold of the Doctor

"The correct pilot has been fond." It pulled the Doctor and I pulled on the doctor hoping to get him away. The hologram kept repeating that it had found the right pilot. Slowly it pulled the Doctor to it.

"Doctor, could the beams be absorbed?"

"What?"

"Can I interfere with the beams!"

"Yes I suppose but not all of them, you'd only slow them down. You could also die cos it could boil your insides."

"Alright." I stood in front of the Doctor and tried to push him back. I was able to slow it down more by the resistance I was putting on him but we were still being dragged towards the activator.

"Phoenix, are you mad? This is literally boiling you on the inside! Your body won't be able to repair itself fast enough! This could kill you!"

"Yeah I know, now hurry up and think of something!"

"What's going on!" Amy was still being thrown around so we had to tell her what was happening.

"Pulling me, I'm the new pilot." He held on to a support beam and I tried to push him back further.

"Could you do it? Could you fly the ship **safely**."

"No." He lost his grip and got pulled forward so hard that I was knocked to the floor and out of the way. "I am way too much for the ship. My hand touches that panel the planet doesn't blow up, the whole solar system does!" I was by him now pulling on him as his hand became closer to the panel.

"The correct pilot has been found."

"No! Worse choice ever! I promise you! Stop this!"

"Doctor! It's getting worse!" Amy was still thrashing about. I started to fade again,

"No! I am not going anywhere! I am staying here!" I was gone for a second then I reappeared beside the Doctor. My body couldn't decide where it wanted to be.

"It said it wanted everyone Craig, Why didn't it want you?"

"I-I-I spoke to him, he-he said I couldn't help him."

"It didn't want Sophie before today, but now it does. Why, think. ARGGGH!" The Doctor was fighting it and I felt hot tears run down my face, "Now that I gave her the idea of leaving and the machine, it needs to leave it wants to leave, wants people who want to escape. But you don't want to leave Craig, why don't you want to leave. You're Mr. Sofa-man. Craig! You can shut down the panel! Put your hand on it and concentrate on why you want to stay!" Sophie objected to the idea,

"Craig! No!"

"Will it work!"

"Yes!" I was on my knees along with the Doctor pulling on his hand that was so close to touching it,

"Are you sure!"

"Yes!" Tears were streaming down my face and I prayed that this plan of the Doctor's would work.

"Is that a lie?"

"Of course it's a lie!"

"Good enough for me! Geronimo!" And with that he placed his hand on the panel and let out a scream. The Doctor was released and we fell back. We quickly scrambled up and made our way to Craig.

"Craig!"

"Alright, Craig, what's keeping you here? Think about everything that makes you want to stay here! Why don't you want to leave!" I slapped him and he spouted off his answer,

"Sophie! I don't want to leave Sophie! I can't leave Sophie! I love Sophie!" the Doctor and I mover over a bit as she gasped and came and stood right in front of him,

"I love you too Craig you idiot!" She placed her hand on the panel as well.

"Honestly do you mean that?"

"Of course! Do you mean it?"

"I've always meant it! Seriously though, do you mean it?"

"Yes!" Amy mad a sick sound and inside I was laughing.

"But what about the monkeys?" The Doctor and I took this time to cut in,

"Oh not now Craig, when the planets about to burn! For God's sake, KISS THE GIRL!"

"KISS THE GIRL!" Amy and I both were yelling now. He did and it stopped.

"Doctor! You've done it. AHAHA you've done it!" then the system went into critical mode and began to flip through all of its forms,

"Help me help me help me help me help me."

"Gotta go." Sophie and Craig broke the kiss when the alarm went off,

"We switch it off?"

"Emergency shut down. It's imploding, everybody out!" He grabbed my hand and we ran down the stairs. The house shook as we ran out the door and onto the street just in time to see the shimmer come off of the ship and fly away. People just passed us by without a word,

"Look at them didn't they see that? The whole top floor just vanished."

"Perception filter. There never wasn't a top floor."

Later on the lovebirds were on the couch while the Doctor and I were tidying up the room. I was folding blankets on the bed when I felt a pair of arms encircle me.

"You are a foolish girl."

"And you are a foolish Time Lord." He chuckled and kissed my cheek.

"Don't ever do that again."

"No promises." He smirked at me and I took his hand and we exited the room only to see the Two on the couch and so we turned the other way and began to walk towards the door. He set the keys on the table and smiled at me.

"Oi!"

"What? Trying to sneak off?"

"Yes well, you were sort of… busy." He picked up the keys and handed the to the Doctor,

"I want you to keep these." The Doctor took them,

"Thank you. Cos I might pop back in and have another stay."

"No you won't. I've been inside your head remember. Still want you to keep them."

"Thank you Craig. Sophie."

"Thank you Doctor. And thank you Phoenix." I nodded my head.

"Now then, six billion four hundred thousand twenty six people. That's the number to beat." Sophie chuckled and I shook my head.

"Yeah, and you two could try to beat that number as well." My eyes widened and for once I actually turned red in the face while the Doctor just grinned. With that we left.

"What do you say?" I gave him a look,

"What?"

"Ever wanna get married try and beat that number?" just as I was about to say something the TARDIS materialized and Amy popped her head out,

"Thank God!" We got inside and the Doctor began to press buttons,

"Amy, you need to go to the paper shop and leave that note for me."

"Quite the little match maker aren't you. Can you find me a fella?" he rambled something off before telling her to write the note,

"You got a pen?"

"It's a red pen." The Doctor went off to search for a pen and I followed. He was digging through a chest of things when I felt Amy's heart grow with question. Then I felt something else. Like she was sad, like she was trying to remember something that she couldn't. I took a look at her and she was holding the engagement ring in her hands. My eyes widened a bit but I turned back around so she wouldn't see them. "Aha! Here it is!" He ran up the ramp and gave her the pen. She gave us both a look before writing it down, "You alright Amy?"

"Never better. Just a little tired I guess." We stopped outside of the paper shop and Amy went to go put it in the window.

"She alright?" I wasn't sure what to tell the Doctor,

"I'm not sure. She'… trying to remember I guess." The Doctor nodded his head and stood right in front of me,

"So, about my question earlier…"


	27. Stars that burn and friends of old

We stood there for a moment in silence. My heart was racing and my brain was swirling, and yet my face did not portray my emotions. After a second or two I found my voice, "What **exactly** are you asking of me Theta?"

"Well, I guess I'm asking you, if you'd marry me." I didn't hesitate and pulled him to me and pressed my lips to his and pulled back, "I guess that's a yes." He smiled and so did I. He pulled me to him,

"Of course it's a yes. If I'm marrying anyone it's going to be you." He smiled at me and I smiled back at him. "I think we should hold off on the wedding bells though until we get Amy and those cracks in time sorted out." He nodded in agreement. Amy came back in and smiled at us,

"So where to next? Preferably somewhere where we won't be chased or have someone trying to kill us." I took Amy's hand and started to walk away,

"Come on, I'll show you that picture while the Doctor finds us a place." And with that we were off laughing all the way,

"Oi! I'd like to clarify that it was a long day and we were stuck."

"Yeah stuck because you had thrown the manual out the door!" We laughed and kept going down the corridor.

An hour or so later we emerged back into the control room only to find that the Doctor wasn't there.

"Well let's see where we are." I opened the doors and saw that we were in space. The darkness penetrated by the bright light that the stars emanated. It was one of the few things in the universe that made me feel safe. It was so calm and peaceful. But the calmness was shattered when the star exploded. I gasped and fell to the floor. Amy ran to me and knelt beside me,

"Phoenix! What's wrong? Doctor!" I gripped my chest feeling the star burn in my heart. Feeling the burning anguish grow in me. I felt a pair of arms drag me away from the doors then I saw the Doctor pull the doors shut before kneeling beside me,

"Phoenix…" I opened my mouth to say something but nothing except a bloody curdling scream escaped my lips. My cries continued as the Doctor leapt up and ran to the counsel and a few seconds I felt the ship lurch forward into life. And slowly as the ship left I felt the pain leave me as well. When the ship stopped moving all fell silent. My chest was heaving with ragged breaths and my throat burned to no end. The doctor knelt beside me again,

"Phoenix…" My eyes met his and he lifted me up into his arms and carried me to my room with Amy right behind him. He laid me down on the bed and kissed my forehead before shutting the door behind him. I could just hear him and Amy on the other side of the door,

"What happened?"

"Remember what I told you about the Starhearts and the stars?"

"Yeah, stars are fading and the Phoenix constellation exists because of her but that still doesn't explain why that happened?"

"Well, the stars are fading and slowly. The reason they fade slowly is because there is still one Starheart in existence. If there wasn't then the stars would be fading much faster. So all the stars are connected to her. When a star burns out, normally it just feels like a throb or a headache, but when you're that close to it. When you can literally see it fall to pieces and feel the heat come off of it then its effects are felt even more. So strong to the point where it's made some Starhearts go mad. Kill them even. But give her some time. A day or so and I think she'll get better she just need to rest and…" I didn't hear the rest as my eyelids grew too heavy and slid shut.

When I woke I found that my room was dim and that I was tucked away under my blankets. I pulled them off and sat up immediately regretting it. I groaned feeling the pain in my head throb and my body ache. I lied back down and my head hit the pillow with a soft thump. I lied there for a while before pulling my phone off the table. It rang four times before I finally got an answer,

"Hello," I smirked, "you've reached the most handsome man in all of time and the universe. How may I help you?" The accent was unmistakable and the humor was still alive.

"Ponce." He laughed and so did I,

"What can I do for you Phoenix?"

"Well…"

When I finally forced myself to get up I changed into my red shirt with black jeans and my white zip up jacket. I emerged from my room to find no one in the control room. I made my way to the consol and flipped a few switches and pulled a few levers. Then we were off, the ship lurched forward into life. I held on and grinned. When she landed the Doctor and Amy both came running in,

"What the devil happened?"

"Where are we? Are we on an alien planet? Please say we're on an alien planet." Amy was excited at the thought of somewhere new but to her dismay we weren't,

"Sorry but we're in Cardiff. But it's still a bit into the future. 2018 actually. My time." Now it was the Doctor's turn,

"Why are we here?" I smiled at him,

"Just to visit a friend. Well more of a brother really." He groaned. I pulled a wallet out of my pocket and pulled a card out of it and tossed it to Amy, "Here, go shopping. There's an unlimited amount on that card and there's some very nice shops just down the strip." She smiled at me and hugged me before running out the door.

"Don't get too much! I'm not carrying it all back!" I patted the Doctor's back seeing how his attempt would probably fail.

"Come on." I took his hand and pulled him out the door.

"Maybe he's not in. Maybe he's out catching aliens or something."

"Nope. I called ahead." He groaned again and I laughed, "Oh, shut it. It won't kill you."

"You don't know that." I shot him look just as we came around the corner. I grinned at the sight of him standing there in the middle of the complex. He smiled at me and then in short jog was right in front of me. I wrapped him in a hug as he spun me around,

"Hey kiddo."

"Jack!" He sat me down and looked at the Doctor and gapped at him a little,

"Out of all the things in the universe to wear you chose a bow tie?"

"Oi! There is nothing wrong with a bow tie. And this is coming from the man in a World War II military coat." Jack smiled and pulled the doctor in for a hug which the Doctor returned and dare I say it he even smiled.

"I knew you changed and on the phone she said you looked a lot different than your previous form but man… It's still a weird thing to expect."

"Again coming from the man who can never die." I stepped in,

"Come on, I want to relax with my two favorite people in all of time and space." We went to a local café and caught up,

"So the Starheart and the Time Lord. Can't say I blame either one of you." I laughed and the Doctor almost choked on his tea.

"So what about you?"

"That guy Alonso that you introduced me to Doctor. Really great guy." I laughed at the thought of the Doctor hooking up Jack with someone. The rest of the day went on and Amy had called us to come help her with her bags.

"I'll come. I want to meet your new companion."

"Be good Jack." He shot me look,

"Me? Bad? Never." The Doctor scoffed at this,

"You. Bad. Yes. Always." Jack gave me his famous grin and I knew that he was going to stir trouble up one way or another. We walked down the street and round a corner to find Amy sitting on the curb with twelve bags around her. Jack and I laughed while the Doctor groaned. "I thought I told you not to but so many things."

"She gave me her card which had unlimited credit on it what was I supposed to do?"

"Leave off her Doctor I did give it to her so she could have some fun." Jack went up to her and stuck his hand out to her,

"Captain Jack Harkness."

"Stop it." The Doctor and I said it simultaneously and Jack just grinned at us,

"You know you said that last time I said hello to someone." I felt Amy's heart flutter and I knew she thought that Jack was hot. Everybody that of Jack. And yet Jack was something of a different story. With him it was like he wasn't there like he was dead. And yet there were times when I could feel his heart. He was the only one who had the power to control what he felt. He could shut me out or let me in seeing he was living and dead most of the time. We helped Amy with her bags and made our way back to the TARDIS. Once all the bags were inside we stepped out of the TARDIS to see Jack off.

"You have my number." He smiled at me,

"Yes if I ever need a Starheart and a Time Lord I'll give you a call." We laughed and I gave him a hug,

"Call me some time. Even just to talk. I miss you at times you big goof." He laughed and pulled back,

"I will. Gotta stay in touch with my little sister right?"

"Excuse me but I do believe I'm the older one here. Been here since the beginning. When God created the heavens and the earth. Remember? Stars came before man. So I'm he older one." I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed.

"Whatever. You're still my little sister." I laughed as he turned to the Doctor. He saluted him which the Doctor returned in a slight mock way before Jack pulled him into a hug, "Take care of her. And take care of yourself."

"I will."

"Come back and see me again sometime. Preferably before the end of the universe."

"Wouldn't want to repeat that again would we." He grinned as we entered the TARDIS and shut the doors. Amy came back in the room after she had put all the bags away,

"He was a cute fellow. Can we keep him?" And with that I lost it and laughed till my sides ached. The Doctor threw some switches,

"Let's see where we end up shall we?"


	28. When in Rome

The Doctor was busy messing with controls on the TARDIS and not really paying attention to Amy, who at the moment was holding the engagement ring in her hand under the grating.. I felt the question grow in her and I knew she didn't want to talk about it. At least, not to me.

The Doctor hung upside down looking at Amy and,

"Vavoom!" Amy put it away,

"Va-**what**?" The sarcasm in her voice was hilarious. The Doctor got back and Amy came around to the top

"I can't **believe **I haven't thought of this before! It's Genius! Right!" I threw some levers, "Landed. Come on."

I went to my room and shut the door. I changed into a pair of black jeans and my red tank top before pulling the Doctor's brown coat on before heading back into the main room to find that the Doctor was **still **rambling.

"…And there's a cliff of pure diamonds and according to pure legend on the cliff there's writing. Letters 50 feet high. A message from the dawn of time. And no one knows what it says because no one's ever translated it… 'till today."

"What happens today?" I felt the excitement grow in Amy,

"Us. The TARDIS can translate anything. All we have to do is open the door, and read the very first words in recorded history."

"Doctor you are a child." He grinned at me and held his hands out to Amy and I we looked at each other and grinned before taking his hands and he led his to the door and opened it. We stopped short when we saw what was on the cliff face. Amy gasped and I laughed,

"Vavoom!" We went back in the TARDIS and took off.

When we landed he popped his head out the door.

"Right place?"

"Amy with him it's always less than a 50/50 chance of us actually getting to where we want to go." He shot me a looke before stepping out with us following,

"Just followed the co-ordinates on the cliff face. Earth. Britain. 1.02 am. No pm. No… AD." I smiled at the sight before me. A Roman camp sight.

"I love the Romans! Their history is amazing!"

"That's a Roman legion." The shock was still overwhelming for Amy,

"Well, yeah. The Romans invaded Britain several times during this period."

"Oh, I know. My favorite topic at school. "Invasion of the Hot Italians." I laughed so hard my sides ached, "Yeah I did get marked down for the title." Just then a solider came running up to us and he seemed rather out of breathe. He hit his chest before kneeling to the ground,

"Hail, Ceaser!"

"Hi."

"Welcome to Britain."

"We are honoured by your presence."

"Well, you're only human. Arise…Roman person" I rolled my eyes and smacked the Doctor's arm. Amy leaned over,

"Why does he think you're Caesar?" that's when I noticed it. Lip stick on his face.

"Cleopatra will see you now." He led us into a tent where I found that my hunch was correct. There sat River Son. Dressed like Cleopatra,

"Hello, Sweetie." The Doctor knew it's be here but Amy didn't,

"River!...hi." the Doctor pursed his lips,

"You graffitied the oldest cliff face in the universe."

"You wouldn't answer your phone."

"Excuse me miss." I turned to see a servant standing there, "Would you like a drink?"

"No thank you. I'm quite aright."

"Bu I insist madam, it is the best in all the world and someone of your stature deserves something of such quality. Please mam it would be a disgrace to my honour if you did not drink." I smiled at him,

"I am no one of great importance my good man, but I would not disgrace you so I will drink to you." I took the glass and raised it to him before taking a drink. He smiled and bowed,

"Thank you mam." I turned around to see River clap her hands and the servants leave. She picked up a rolled up piece of paper. I took another drink before heading over to where the Doctor stood,

"What's this?"

"It's a painting. Your friend Vincent." I finished off the drink before setting it on a vacant table. "One of his final works." The doctor began to unroll it and set it on a table. "He had visions, didn't he? I thought you ought to know about this one."

"Doctor?" Amy felt scared that I much I could tell but my head hurt so I decided to lay off trying to read her. "Doctor, what is this?" My own worries had engulfed me when the picture was in full view. It was of the TARDIS exploding. The box was breaking apart and fire shot from the inside of it. "Why is it exploding?"

"I assume it's some kind of warning." The Doctor didn't anything. He simply sat down in a chair

"Something's going to happen to the TARDIS?" Amy and river kept talking but my attention was focused on the Doctor. He seemed, upset. And rightfully so. This painting was very disturbing.

"It might not be that literal. Anyway this is where he wanted you. Date and map reference in the door sign." The Doctor finally decided to speak,

"Does it have a title."

"The Pandorica Opens." By the look on Amy's face I took she had never heard of the tale,

"The Pandorica? What is it?"

"A box. A cage. A prison. It was builtto contain the most feared thing in all the universe." The doctor stood,

"It's a fairy tale, a legend. It can't be real." River shot back,

"If it is real, it's here and it's opening. And it's got something to do with your TARDIS exploding." The Doctor grabbed a bunch of maps and sat them on the table, "Hidden, obviously. Buried for centuries. You won't find it on a map."

"No. but if you buried the most dangerous thing in the universe you'd want to remember where you put it." The Doctor looked at me then back at the painting,

"Have you ever seen this painting?"

"No, when he died I went through his whole house and collected all his paintings and made sure they ended up in the right hands. He never even mentioned this when I saw him just weeks before he died." River interrupted,

"Excuse me, I don't believe we've met. I'm River-"

"Song. Yes I know who you are." She seemed a little unnerved at that, "You looked to stars as a child and dreamed about traveling amongst them. I'd say you got your wish." I didn't even read her but the suspicion was etched across her face,

"Doctor, who is she?"

"River, this is Phoenix. She's a Starheart." She gasped and her eyes went wide.

"I'm also the last." Her eyes softened and she extended her hand,

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you." I nodded my head. River went on to ramble about Stonehenge but I couldn't really focus long enough to quite grasp all her words. I sat down and rubbed my temples,

"Are you alright?" I looked up to see Amy standing there with concern in her eyes,

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit of a headache." She nodded her head and the Doctor announced that we would be riding out to Stonehenge. We walked out to the stables and the girls both picked white horses while the Doctor picked a black one. I was walking towards a grey one when the Doctor stopped me,

"Phoenix you ride with me."

"Doctor, I'm not a child and I've ridden more horses in my time than you have. Remember I was in the war with the Indians in America? I'll be fine." He gave me a hard pressed look,

"I'm not budging Phoenix. You ride with me. You told Amy your head hurt and you never have headaches so until I know it's **just **a headache you'll ride with me."

"Doctor-"

"Please." His voice was soft and I saw the concern in his eyes. I sighed,

"Alright you win." I smiled and pulled me up so I was in front of him. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my temple,

"Thank you." He took the reins and out of the corner of my eye I noticed River looked… sad. I tried to read her but I felt the pain in my head grow and decided against it. We took off riding across the vast amount of land before the great stone work was in sight.

Stonehenge.


	29. Fears rise with terrors of the universe

When we reached the great stone structure we dismounted and made our way inside it. The Doctor circled around taking the whole thing in and sonicing everything. River began to press buttons and I leaned down and touched the earth below me. I tried to feel something, anything, but my head hurt too much and so I gave up.

"How come it's not new?" I smiled at Amy. She was always asking questions,

"Because it's already old. Been here thousands of years. No-one knows exactly how long."

"Twenty thousand years, five months and two days." River gave me a surprised look and the Doctor grinned, "I'm not young you know. Born only four years after this place was built. But I do not know who built it either." The Doctor laughed,

"You are cheeky today you know?" I shrugged,

"Okay, what is this Pandorica thing? Last time we saw you, or rather last time the Doctor and I saw you, you warned us about it, after we climbed out of the Byzantium."

"Spoilers!" she held up her finer to her lips,

"No, but you told the Doctor you'd see him again when the Pandorica opens…" Amy's face revealed shock, "Then you said that he needed the help of stars! That was the Phoenix!" The Doctor stopped for a moment and looked at us,

"Why didn't I think of that before?" I rolled my eyes and smirked.

"Maybe I did. But I haven't yet. But I will have. Doctor, I'm picking up fry particles everywhere." The Doctor checked his screw driver, "Energy weapons discharged on his site." The Doctor jumped up on a rock,

"If the Pandorica is here, it contains the mightiest warrior in history. Now, half the galaxy would want a piece of that. Maybe even fight over it." he got down and pressed his ear to the rock. "We need to get down there." Amy gave me look that was filled with worry. I squeezed her shoulder before going over and sitting on the ground with my back against the rock. The cool air felt good and I shut my eyes. Before I knew it I was asleep.

When I woke again I found that I was lying on the ground and that the Doctor's jacket was laid over me like a blanket. There were lights set up surrounding the perimeter and the Doctor, Amy, and River were standing in the middle. I stood up and stretched before heading over to them. I handed the Doctor his jacket then kissed his cheek,

"Thank you." He smiled at me before River spoke,

"Right then…ready." She pressed a button and a low clanking sound was heard. I looked at the Doctor who only looked at the huge rock that was emanating the sound. The sound was like the turning of gears and cogs. Slowly the rock slid to its right reveling a staircase that lead down into the earth. We all took a few steps closer to the hole in the earth. River shown her light down into it while the Doctor sighed,

"The underhenge." I shook my head. He pulled out his screwdriver and soniced it as he walked down the stairs with me behind him followed by Amy then River. He looked around the room before heading to his right where he soniced a torch and lit it. He lit Rivers torch with his and then we could see that there was a massive door in front of us. The Doctor lifted the piece of wood that was laid across it and it fell to the floor. I stood in front of the doors while the Doctor stood to my right and River to my left. He looked at each of us before he looked at Amy. He ginned with excitement before we pushed the doors open. When we opened them an old dull room was revealed with a big stone box with markings along the exterior. My heart sped up. Fear was coursing through me but I didn't know why. I felt like I had seen this before but I didn't where. Surely I would have remembered **this**. "It's a Pandorica."

"More than just a fairy tale." He looked at River with disbelief who smirked at him. He moved closer to it but stopped when he stepped on something metal. We looked down and my eyes widened at the sight. It was a robotic arm. And it belonged to a Cyberman. He gave me a concerned look before continuing towards the box. He put his hand on the box,

"There was a goblin, or a trickster or warrior," The happiness and energy that was always present in his voice was replaced by a seriousness and warning that I had never heard before, "A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos." He ran his hands down the intricate designs of the box, "And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world." Amy stepped closer,

"How did it end up in there?"

"You know fairy tales. A good wizard tricked it."

"I hate good wizards in fairy tales. They always turn out to be him." I laughed. It was true. He was usually always the good wizard. She handed Amy her torch and went up to the box with her scanner. Amy held the torch and shook a bit,

"So it's kind of Pandora's Box, then? Almost the same name."

"Sorry, what?"

"The story. Pandora's Box, with all the worst things in the world in it." Amy was starting to get more comfortable and her sarcasm came back full swing. "That as my favorite book when I was a kid." The Doctor stopped sonicing the box and walked over to us with a very concerned look, "What's wrong?"

"Your favorite school topic, your favorite story. Never ignore a coincidence, unless you're busy. In which case, always ignore a coincidence."

"So can you open it?" River was just as curious as he was and so was Amy. But I wasn't. I hadn't even gone near it yet.

"Easily. Anyone can break **into **a prison. But I'd rather know what I'm going find first." River's communicator started to make a lot of noise,

"You won't have long to wait. It's already opening." My heart was pounding so hard I thought my ribcage was going to bruise, "There are layers and layers of security protocol in there, and they're being disabled, one by one. Like it's being unlocked from the inside." River pressed her ear to the box,

"How long do we have?"

"_Phoenix…"_ I whipped my head around but saw nothing.

"Hours at the most."

"_Phoenix…"_ I heard that voice before. I knew I had. But where?

"What kind of security?"

"_Phoenix."_ My pounding even harder now if that were possible.

"Everything. Deadlocks, time-stops, matter-lines."

"What could need all that?"

"_Phoenix!" _ Where was it coming from? I looked toward the box and I felt something dark grow in my heart I began to back up slowly towards the wall.

"What could get past all that?" Is shut my eyes and forced myself to focus. Then the voice fell silent. I opened my eyes to find Amy was wondering the room and glanced at me. I remained silent my eyes glued to the box and I'm sure that the fear was very evident in my eyes. "Think of the fear that wet into making this box. Amy whipped around and my attention was drawn towards here, "What could inspire that level of fear?" Amy shook it off and headed towards me while the Doctor put his hands on the box, "Hello you…have we met?" Amy was beside me now and simply stared at me. River's device was beeping again,

"So why would it start to open now?"

"No idea." Amy turned to them,

"And how could Vincent have know about it? He won't even be born for centuries." The Doctor walked away from the box and soniced everything around him,

"The stones! These stones are great big transmitters, broadcasting a warning to everyone, everywhere, to every time zone. The Pandorica is opening!"

"Doctor- everyone, everywhere?"

"Even poor Vincent heard it in his dreams. But what's in there, what could justify all this?"

"Doctor, everyone?"

"Anything that powerful, I'd know about it. Why don't I know?" The Doctor turned to face me. I hadn't moved from the wall. I was paralyzed by my own fear.

"Doctor, you said everyone could hear it. So who else is coming?" The Doctor stopped and turned to them.

"Oh." Amy paled a bit,

"Oh? Oh, what?" river's face showed fear but not as much as the fear that was forever growing in me. She ran around the room with her scanner and pressed it to every stone,

"Ok, if it is basically a transmitter, we should be able to fold back the signal"

"Doing it." The Doctor ran around the room but Amy was still confused,

"Doing what?" River answered her since the Doctor was too busy sonicing everything,

"Stonehenge is transmitting, it's been transmitting for a while… so who heard?" once the Doctor was done he headed toward me,

"Ok, should be feeding back to you now. River, what's out there? Getting anything?" He came over to me and had fear in his eyes as well. He pressed his finger to my neck and my pulse was racing. He took my face and looked into my eyes and assuming my the worried look on his face they were probably dilated,

"Give me a moment."

"River, quickly, anything?"

"Around this planet, there are at least ten thousand starships." Amy scoffed,

"At least?"

"Ten thousand, a hundred thousand, one million, I don't know. There's too many readings."

"What kind of starships?" The Doctor pulled my hand and headed toward them. I pulled away. He gave me a confused look but headed back towards the others. But new voices filled the air. Ones of ancient foes,

"MAINTAINING ORBIT."

"I OBEY."

"SHIELD COVER COMPROMISED ON ION SECTORS."

Amy was the first to recover from the shock, "Daleks. Those are Daleks.

"SCAN DETECTS NO TEMPORAL ACTIVITY."

"SOFT GRID SCAN COMMENCING."

"REVERSE THROUST FOR COMPENSATORY STABILISATION." Then it was River who recovered,

"Daleks, Doctor." The Doctor looked at me and the fear in his eyes matched my own now. I was less worried about the box now and ran to the Doctor and gripped his hand in my own. He held it tightly.

"LAUNCH PRELIMINARY ARMEMENTS PROTOCOL." The Doctor was the last to recover,

"Yes, Ok. Ok, ok, ok. Dalek fleet." He let go and started pacing, "Minimum, twelve thousand battleships, armed to the teeth. Ahhh! But we've got surprise on our side! They'll never expect four people to attack twelve thousand Dalek battleships. Cos we'd be killed instantly. So it would be a fairly short surprise." He hit himself in the head with his screwdriver, "Forget surprise." Amy was scarred and rightfully so. But River just added to the fear,

"Doctor, Cyber-ships."

"No, Dalek ships, listen to them, those are Dalek ships."

"Yes. Dalek ship **and **Cyberships." The voices were mixed and it was hard to distinguish between the two,

"Well, we need to start a fight, turn them on each other. That's easy. It's the Daleks- they're **so **cross…"

"Sontaran. Four battle fleets." This was not going to end well."

"Sontarans! Talk about cross, who stole all their handbags?"

"Terileptil. Slitheen. Chelonian. Nestene. Drahvin. Sycorax. Haemo-goth. Zygon. Atraxi. Draconian." The Doctor came back to me and stared into my eyes. I could see that he was scared, but not for himself. No. He was scared for his friends. He didn't want to loose us in a bloody battle. He turned towards the Pandorica, "They're all here. For the Pandorica."

"What are you? What could you possibly be? He touched the box again just as we heard the ships up above. The Doctor took off running with me and the others behind him. When we got outside we saw ships flying about the place. Amy's face showed so much fear,

"What do we do?" River looked towards the Doctor,

"Doctor, listen to me! Everything that ever hated you is coming here tonight. You can't win this. You can't even fight it. Doctor, this once, just this one time, please, you have to run." Her voice was filled worry and her plead was sincere.

"Run where?" She shot back,

"Fight how?" He pulled out his binoculars,

"The greatest military machine in the history of the universe."

"What is?" Amy hadn't caught one yet.

"The Daleks." River hadn't either,

"No. No, no, no, no." I smiled and he looked at me,

"The Romans."


	30. Rememberances and dances with Cybermen

River decided that she would go back for help seeing how they believed that she was Cleopatra. I stood there staring after her until I could see her no more. My head was pounding now and I felt horrible. I felt a hand on my shoulder and jumped,

"You alright?" It was the Doctor. "Earlier, you're pulse was racing. You're eyes were the size of dinner plates, and you looked more scared than I've ever seen anybody be in all my life. Why? You pulled back from me when I tried to pull you over to the group. What's wrong?" He pressed his forehead to mine, "Please. I don't want you to be afraid of anything while I'm around." I wrapped my arms around me and he held me back,

"My dream…" he pulled back and stared at me,

"What?"

"I…try it again Doctor. Try and find that dream." He sighed and placed his hands on either side of my face and shut his eyes. I shut mine as well and I felt him search my thoughts. Everything was open to him so he could see whatever he wanted and surprisingly enough his mind was open to me as well.

"Found it." I felt him pry at the wall and then I felt it all come flooding back.

_"Phoenix!" I ignored the voice and held my hand out to touch the box. _

_"Phoenix!" The voice grew louder as my hand touched the box. That's when I heard not one but a billion voices in my head. I saw planets burn and stars explode. I saw people die and heard every cry and plea. The voices growing louder and louder. Pain started to engulf me and my own cries of pain were mixing with those in my head,_

_"PHOENIX! PHOENIX! PHOENIX!" _I cried and the Doctor let go and I fell to my knees with the Doctor holding me. Amy came running over,

"What happened?" The pain was leaving but the images were burned in my brain and I couldn't bear the thought of it,

"We should never have come." His voice was but a whisper. He took my face in his hands and whipped the tears away, "Phoenix, I need to go back down there. I need to look at that box. Stay here for a bit. Catch your breathe." I nodded and he kissed my head, "I promise you that I **will not **let that happen. I swear." And with that he went back down followed by Amy.

It was a matter of minutes before my heart rate had returned to normal and my breathing had slowed down. I made my way down the stairs and stopped when I heard Amy and the Doctor talking,

"What's this got to do with the TARDIS?"

"Nothing, as far as I know."

"But Vincent's painting- the TARDIS was exploding, is that going to happen? And what about the dream that Phoenix had? Is that going to happen as well?"

"One problem at a time. There's force-field technology inside this box. If I can enhance the signal, I could extend it all over Stonehenge. Could buy us half and hour."

"What good is half and hour?"

"There are fruit flies live on Hoppledom six that live for twenty minutes they don't even mate for life. There was going to be a point to that. I'll get back to you." I thought about reading Amy but I hurt too much to try and do it.

"So…are you proposing to someone?" I peered from my hiding spot and saw Amy holding the ring box.

"I'm sorry?" She walked over to the Doctor with the ring box open,

"I found** this **in your pocket." He glanced at it and I saw the sadness in his eyes,

"No. No, no, that's, er… a memory. A fiend of mine, someone I lost. Do you…mind?" I reached for the box but she pulled away.

"It's weird, I feel… I don't know. Something."

"People fall of out of the world sometimes, but they always leave traces. Little things we can't quite account for. Faces in photographs, luggage, half-eaten meals…rings… Nothing is ever forgotten, not completely. And… if something can be remembered, it **can **come back." She shut it and pushed it to the Doctor,

"So, was she nice, your friend?" He hit himself in the head with it before heading back towards the box, "Sure you're not proposing to Phoenix any time soon?" He looked at her and I smirked, "It's not a secret you know. You and her. You love her. A lot. So… are you going to propose to her?" He let out a sigh and looked towards my direction with a smile,

"When this is all done and over… yeah…I think I will." There were a few moments of silence and I took his opportunity to make my entrance. I walked in and pulled the brown trench coat around me tighter,

"How you feel Phoenix?"

"Horrible. My head aches something awful and I feel as tired as ever." He pointed his screwdriver at me and soniced me,

"There is definitely **something **that's messing with your internal structure but I can't pin point it. Maybe you're getting a cold or something. Like an intergalactic bug of some sort. Amy, remember that night you flew away with me?" She cleared her throat,

"Of course I do."

"And you asked me why I was taking you and I told you there wasn't a reason. I was lying."

"What, so you did have a reason?"

"Your house." She scoffed,

"My house."

"It was too big, too many empty rooms… Does it ever bother you, Amy, that your life doesn't make any sense?" She was silent for a while but the silence was interrupted when we were shot at. We ducked and ran around to the other side of the Pandorica,

"What was that?"

"Ok, I need a proper look. Got to draw it's fire, give it a target."

"How?"

"You know how sometimes I have really brilliant ideas?"

"Yes.."

"Sorry!" And with that he jumped out into the open,

"Doctor!" He held out his arms,

"Look at me, I'm a target!" It fired at him and he ducked behind a pillar.

"What is that?"

"Cyber arm. Arm of a Cyberman." She turned to me,

"And what's a Cyberman?"

"You don't want to know."

"Oh, sort of part man, part robot. The organic part must have died off years ago, now the robot part is looking for, well… fresh meat." She stared at me in shock,

"What, us?"

"Yeah, it's just like being an organ donor, except you're still alive and sort of… screaming. Ah, I need to get behind it, could one of you draw its fire?"

"What, like **you **did!"

"You'll be fine if you're quick, it's only got one arm, literally." He smiled at us and held his thumbs up and Amy held her thumbs up before screaming and turning the other way and running with me right behind her. It fired at us as we made for cover and the Doctor dove fore the arm,

"Come here!" He soniced it and it went still,

"Doctor?"

"Scrambled its circuits, but stay where you are. It could be bluffing."

"Bluffing? It's an arm!"

"I said, "**Stay where you are**!" I pulled on her arm a bit and she backed away. She grabbed my arm and looked down,

"Doctor!" She was pulled down and screamed,

"Amy!" The arm came to life and shocked the Doctor,

"DOCTOR!" Amy and I both screamed as he fell to the ground. I ran to the Doctor and checked his vital signs. He was till breathing and his hearts were pumping.

"I'm going to kill you when you wake up Theta." I looked behind Amy and saw that it was the head of a Cyberman. It wrapped its cables and wires around her arms and pulled itself closer and closer to her. I ran over to her and picked up the head and pulled on it but it began to burn my hands and I let go. It slithered over to Amy who held it at arms length. It stopped squirming and opened up to reveal a rotten old face inside. She screamed and again I tried to pull it off of her. The face fell out and it began snapping at Amy. She hit it against the wall and it let her go so she threw it to the floor. It started to make more noise and slithered again,

"Doctor, Phoenix." It shot a dart and found its target in Amy's neck. She pulled it out and began to blink her eyes.

"YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED."

"Yeah? You and whose body?" As if on cue we heard the sound of heavy footsteps. Metal footsteps. It came around the corner and revealed itself to be a one armed headless Cyberman. It walked closer to us and picked up its head and put it back one.

"Amy, go into the other room." It started to advance,

"But-"

"Do it! I can handle this." In all honesty I didn't know if I could. I felt weak and tired but I couldn't let it get Amy.

"YOU WILL STAND ASIDE." It held its hand out and I hit it away,

"Not today you Cyber junk. Why not take me instead? Hmm?"

"Phoenix!"

"I know what I'm doing!"

"YOUR RESISTANCE IS IRRELEVENT AND SO IS YOU PROPOSAL."

"What do you mean? Why won't you take me instead of her?"

"YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. YOUR BODY WILL NOT LAST LONG ENOUGH FOR THE ASSIMILATION. YOU ARE OF NO USE TO THE CYBERMEN."

"What do you mean? I'll live longer than her? I'm not human! My life spans longer than hers!"

"NEGATIVE. YOU WILL DIE. YOU WILL DIE. YOU WILL DIE." And before I knew it, it took its hand and threw me into the wall effectively knocking me out.


	31. Speeches are made but the truth hurts

Slowly I began to wake, my head was throbbing and I felt as though I was going to throw up. I held my stomach and tried to stand. I was shaking horribly and I felt someone grab hold of my arm,

"Carful there miss. You've got a cut on your head." I looked to see who had helped me and found it to be a Roman solider.

"Thank you. I'm fine." He nodded then walked away. Quickly I ran to the room that I had sent Amy to. I pushed past two soldiers and looked at Amy. I checked her vitals and let out a breathe, "Sleeping. Good."

"Sir the man's coming around."

"Phoenix! Amy! Where's Amy and Phoenix?"

"They're fine, Doctor, Amy's just unconscious." I turned to the man who spoke and stood there in total shock. My mouth hung open and my eyes went wide. I didn't even care about the pain. It was Rory. He was alive! My joy was rising and yet I was still speechless. The Doctor came running in. He looked at me and kissed me,

"You have got one nasty cut."

"Yeah well Cybermen aren't very nice so **what did you expect**." He smirked at me,

"You're fine your sarcasm's back." He turned to Amy,

"Ok… Yes, she's sedated, that's all. Half and hour, she'll be fine. Ok, Romans, good, I was just wishing for Romans, good old River. How many?" Rory opened his mouth a bit confused that the Doctor hadn't taken notice,

"Fifty men up top, volunteers. What about that thing?" He pointed at the Cyberman that was currently pinned to the door with a sword.

"Fifty? Not exactly a legion."

"Your friend was very persuasive, but, er…it's a tough sell."

"Yes, I know that, Rory, I'm not exactly one to miss the obvious." I rolled my eyes and while his back was turned I jumped at Rory and wrapped my arms around him. He chuckled and hugged me back. I pulled away and stood beside him as the Doctor continued, "But we need everything we can get. Ok, Cyberweapons." He held up two huge guns and turned to us, "This is basically a sentry box. So headless wonder here was a sentry." He hit the Cyperman with a gun, "Probably got himself duffed up by the locals. Never underestimate a Celt."

"Doctor…"

"Hush, Rory, thinking. Why leave a Cyberman on guard? Unless it's a Cyberthing in the box. But why would they lock up one of their own? Ok, no, not a Cyberthing, but what, what? No I'm missing something obvious, Rory!" He came in and came face to face with us, "Something big, something right slap in front of me, I can feel it!"

"Yeah, I think you probably are."

"Yeah it's really **slap **in front of you Theta."

"I'll get it in a minute." He slung the weapons over his shoulder and proceeded to go into the other room.

"He's a bit on the denser side today." He smiled at me before we heard a loud clank. Probably the Doctor dropping the guns on his realization of what he was missing. There were a few footsteps and the Doctor stopped just in front of Rory. He gave him a look before taking his finger and pushing him back a bit in the chest. He still hadn't said anything,

"…Hello again."

"Hello." He turned and looked at me before turning to face him again,

"How've you been?"

"Good. Yeah, good… I mean, Roman."

"Rory, I'm not trying to be rude, but you died."

"Yeah, I know, I was there."

"You died and then you were erased from time. You didn't just die, you were never born at all, you **never **existed."

"Erased? What does…that mean?" The Doctor made this face and I laughed,

"How can you be here?" Rory opened his mouth and made a few sounds but he did know either,

"I don't know. It's kind of fuzzy."

"Fuzzy?"

"Well, I died and turned into a Roman. It's very distracting!" He went over to Amy who groaned. He put his and on her face, "Did she miss me?" I looked to the Doctor who lowered his head. Unable to answer his question. The ships up above were getting louder and making everything shake. We ran out into the main room to find that the Pandorica was emanating a green glow. The Doctor soniced it as the patterns on the box began to shift. Rory was the first to ask the question,

"What is it? What's happening?

"The final phase. It's opening." He soniced it again and then placed his hand on the box. Rory ran up the stairs along with a few other Romans. "Phoenix could you get anything off of Rory? Any feelings or emotions? Anything."

"Sorry Doctor, I can't. My head hurts so much that I can't read anybody even when I try." Concern now filled his eyes,

"This is wrong. This is all wrong. Anything else?"

"I ache, a lot. And that's not all because of the Cyberman knocking my head against a wall." He was about to say something when River came over the com,

"You're surrounded. Have you got a plan?"

"Yes! Now hurry up and get the TARDIS here. I need equipment!" He went to start scanning all the parts of the box. "What are you? They're all here, all of them, all for you. What could you possibly be?" There were more sounds from the ships up above. The Doctor grabbed my hand and ran up the stairs. He grabbed the com and started to sonic it then dropped it before brining it up to his mouth,

"Sorry, dropped it. Hello, Stonehenge! Who takes the Pandorica takes the Universe! But, bad news everyone," he jumped on the rock, " cause guess who! Ha! Except, you lot, you're all whizzing about, it's really very distracting. Could you all just stay still a minute because **I…AM…TALKING!**" It amplified through the whole area and they all remained still now, "Now, the question for the hour is, "Who's got the Pandorica?" Answer: I do. Next question: "Who's coming to take it from me?" He held his arms open in a gesture of come and get me, "Come on, look at me! No plan, no backup, no weapons worth a damn, oh, and something else: I don't have anything… to… lose! So, if you're sitting up there in your silly little space ships with all your silly little guns, and you've got any plans on taking the Pandorica tonight, just remember who's standing in your way! Remember every black day I ever stopped you, and then, **and then**, do the smart thing!.. Let somebody else try first." He opened his arms the same way he had before and all the ships began to head higher into the stars. The Doctor smirked before jumping down off the rock and throwing the com to Rory, "That'll keep 'em squabbling for half and hour!" He looked around at the men, "Romans!" He took my hand and pulled me along down the stairs,

"By the way you are the only thing I have to loose but I don't want them knowing that. That's something I do not want them to hold over me." I smiled and pulled him into a hug,

"They're still out there. What do we do now?" Rory was worried and that much could be seen on his face,

"If I can stop whatever's in this box getting out, then they'll all go home." There was a sound from the room that Amy was in and I stiffened, "Right. Rory, I'm sorry, you're going to have to be very brave now." Amy came out holding her head. Rory looked excited but she pushed right past him,

"Oh, my head." She came over to the Doctor and he opened his mouth,

"Aaahh." She did the same thing and Rory looked crushed. The Doctor chuckled, "Just your basic knockout drops. Get some fresh air, you'll be fine."

"Is it safe up there?"

"Not remotely, but it's fresh."

"Fine." She turned around and almost ran in right to Rory, "Ooh. Oh, you're the guy, yeah, the one who did the…Swordy thin."

"Yeah." He looked even more crushed,

"Well, thanks for the…swording. Nice Swording." She patted his shoulder before walking past him, "Oh!" He turned around in hope that she had remembered him, "Phoenix! What did that Cyberman mean?" I sighed. I was really counting on her not bringing this up. The Doctor stopped,

"What do you mean?"

"Well she told me to go to the other room I said no-"

"Amy skip to it!"

"Right, it said stand aside she asked it why not take her instead and it said her resistance was irrelevant and so was her proposal then she asked why it wouldn't take her it said she was going to die that her body won't last long enough for the assimilation thingy and then she asked what it meant and that she'd live longer than me and it said she wouldn't and kept repeating you will die over and over again." The Doctor looked at me but I wouldn't meet his gaze. He soniced me and I heard him choke on his own gasp. I looked up at him,

"What is it?"

"The Cyberman was right…" Tears were forming in his eyes, "You're going to die."


	32. Miracles never found me only goodbyes

The look on the Doctor's face said it all, "I'll run it again. Maybe it's a, a miscalculation or I read it wrong or..." I pulled the Doctor to me and held him in my arms. His grip was tight and I felt his tears run down face and fought against my own that were threatening to spill. Once he pulled away he began to explain, "The scan says that she's shutting down. Her organs are still working but her system, the one that allows her body to rebuild what was lost, is failing. And with a Starheart once that is gone they are completely vulnerable. And then..." He struggled with the last few words he had to say, "Then the poison will eat away at her organs."

"Poison? How?" Amy's face held a mixture of shock and sadness. The Doctor was wiping his eyes now but the tears were still there,

"That's what the Cyberman meant. they do scans of the internal structure of every being they came across to make sure that the body will withstand the assimilation and that it's lifespan is long enough to at least get a couple years out of it." The Doctor had a look of misery on his face and it was breaking my heart,

"How long." He wouldn't meet my eyes. I lifted his chin so that his eyes could meet mine. When they did my heart broke. in them I saw a man that was broken and someone who had suffered so much had finally come to his breaking point, "Theta, how long do I have left?" His eyes fell downcast for a moment,

"By afternoon tomorrow your system will have been totally eradicated... and by night fall..." He didn't finish that sentence. He didn't need to. We all knew what it meant and I wasn't going to make him say it. The mood was somber and depressing and I knew that work still needed to be done. I took a deep breath,

"So we have all night and a whole day. Lets not waste it shall we? Let's stop whatever's about to happen." I put on the best face that I could but everyone could see through it. It wasn't the fact that I was dying that bothered me. It was the fact that the Doctor was going to be left alone that bothered me. That he was going to be heartbroken... again. I looked at Amy,

"Now...the Doctor told you to go get some fresh air. So, go on then." Reluctantly she turned and made her way up the steps,

"Uh, my men are up there...they'll...they'll look after you." I felt bad for Rory. Amy didn't remember him at all.

"Good, love a Roman." She headed up the stairs and Rory looked like he had been hit with a cricket bat,

"She doesn't remember me. How can she not remember me?" The Doctor was still overwhelmed and so I spoke for him,

"Because you never existed."

"There are cracks, cracks in time. There's going to be a huge explosion in the future. On one particular day. And every other moment in history is cracking around it." The Doctor started to scan the Pandorica,

"So how does that work?" Rory seemed upset and he had every right to be. His fiancé didn't remember him and he comes back a Roman solider, "What kind of explosion? What exploded?" The Doctor stopped and looked like he was remembering something.

"Doesn't matter, the cracks are everywhere now. Get too close and you can fall right out of the universe."

"So I fell through a crack and now I was never born?"

"Basically."

"How did I end up here?"

"I don't know, you shouldn't have. What happened? From your point of vied, what physically happened?" He stood up and made his way over to Rory."

"I was in the cave, with you, Phoenix, and Amy. I was dying…and then I was just here, a Roman soldier. A proper Roman. A head full of Roman…stuff, a whole other life. Just here, like I'd woken up from a dream. I started to think it **was **a dream. You, Phoenix, and Amy and Leadworth. Then today, in the camp, the men were talking about the visitors, the girl with the red hair. I thought you'd come back for me. But she can't even remember me."

"Oh, shut up." I looked at the Doctor and wondered what game he was playing at.

"What?" He pulled the ring box out of his pocket and threw it at Rory. He opened it with care while the Doctor put on a smile,

"Go get her."

"But I don't understand. What am I here?"

"Because you are. The universe is big. It's vast and complicated and ridiculous, and sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles, and… that's the theory." I could see the sadness that was in his eyes and the pain that was held in them. "Nine hundred years, never seen one yet. But this would do me. Now get upstairs, she's Amy and she's surrounded by Romans. I'm not sure history can take it." I smiled as the Doctor tried to cheer Rory up. Rory snapped the box shut and began to make his way to the stairs and stopped just short of them,

"Doctor," He looked at me then back to him, "There's still hope. Maybe… someone's been saving up one particular miracle for you." And with that he went up the steps. I looked at the Doctor who seemed to be overwhelmed by sadness. I went to him and wrapped my arms around him,

"Miracles never seem to find me."

"Sure they have. You had all your friends. Saved so many people. It was a miracle that I was brought to you before everything was destroyed. And it was a miracle that I found you again."

"And now I'm loosing you… I'd give everything back just to have you."

"But you don't get to pick and choose who lives and who dies. That's not your choice. And I'm sorry Theta, but you know that by now don't you." He sighed and nodded.

"Now lets figure this out eh?" He picked up the com and called River,

"TARDIS where is it? Hurry up."

"Don't raise your voice, don't look alarmed, just listen." She was quiet so only the Doctor and I heard it, "They're not real, they can't be. They're all right here in the story book, those actual Romans, the ones I sent you, the ones you're with right now. They're all in a book in Amy's house, a children's picture book." By now the Doctor had pulled me with him to the side of the Pandorica that wasn't visible to the Romans,

"What are you even doing there?"

"It doesn't matter. The TARDIS went wrong. Doctor, how is this possible?

"We have enough problems already. Something's using her memories, Amy's memories."

"But how?"

"You said something had been there."

"Yes, ah, there's burn marks on the grass outside, landing patterns."

"If they've been to her house, they could have used her psychic residue. Structures can hold memories, that's why houses have ghosts. They could've taken a snapshot of Amy's memories. But why?"

"Doctor, who are those Romans?" I felt my stomach lurch and I gasped in pain as I doubled over.

"Phoenix!" He knelt beside me. My heart was racing and I felt as if I was going to be sick,

"I'm fine…. I'm fine…"I was breathy heavily and the Doctor helped me stand again,

"Doctor what happened?"

"Phoenix, she's dying. She's been poisoned."

"By who?"

"Does it matter? Either way she's dying. Those Romans, projections or… duplicates."

"But they were helping us. My lipstick even worked."

"They might think they're real. The perfect disguise. They actually believe their own cover story…right until they're activated."

"Doctor…that centurion…it's a trap. It has to be. They used Amy to construct a scenario you'd believe, to het close to you." He was pacing now,

"Why? Who'd do that? What for? It doesn't make sense?"

"Ahh!" there was a loud sound on the com and the Doctor and I exchanged worried glances,

"River? River? River, what's happening?"

"I don't know, it's the engines. Doctor, there's something wrong with the TARDIS, like someone else is controlling it."

"You're flying it wrong."

"I'm flying it perfectly. You taught me."

"Where are you? What's the date reading?"

"It's the twenty-sixth of June, twenty ten." The Doctor stopped pacing and I saw the recognition cross his features,

"You need to get out of there now! Any other time zone, just go."

"I can't break free."

"Well, the, shut down the TARDIS. Shut down everything!"

"I can't!" She fell silent for a moment then a lower voice continued, "Someone else is flying it. An external force. I've lost control."

"But how? Why?" The Doctor continued his pacing. There was a high pitched sound and the Romans all slumped forward.. "Listen to me, just land her anywhere. Emergency landing, now!" The Romans began to upright but had a bored expression on their faces, "There are cracks in time, I've seen them everywhere, and they're getting wider. The TARDIS exploding is what causes them, but we can stop the cracks ever happening if you **just land her**!"

"Doctor-"

"It's not safe." I opened my mouth to say something but pain engulfed me and my words died in my throat. There was a loud clanging sound and we turned to see the Pandorica was opening.

"Well, now. Ready to come out, are we?" The soldiers turned towards us but the Doctor had his back to them. They're hands folded apart to reveal what looked like the nozzle of a gun. Again I tried to say something but nothing came out. My head was spinning and I was feeling sicker by the moment.

"Doctor… I'm down. I've landed."

"Okay, just walk out of the doors. If there's no one inside, the TARDIS engines shut down automatically. Just get out of there."

"I'm going."

"**RUN!" **He soniced the box and the Romans started to come near us.

"Doctor! Doctor! I can't open the doors!"

"Amy!" He came over to me and wrapped his arms around me. His eyes locked with mine and I knew that look. It was a look of goodbye. "I love you…." His lips crashed onto mine and tears were streaming down my face. It was full of passion and grief. He pulled away when the Romans took hold of his arms and they dragged him away. I could hardly hear the com anymore over my own cries. "Plastic Romans. Duplictes, driven by the Nestene Consciousness, eh? Deep cover, but what for? What are you doing?" The Doctor kept struggling against them. "What's in there, eh? What's coming out?" They stopped and turned around so they were facing the Pandoric and the Doctor was facing me,

"The Pandorica is ready…"

"What, you mean it's open?" Then a new voice entered the conversation and my heart froze with fear,

"YOU HAVE BEEN SCANNED. ASSESSED. UNDERSTOOD. DOCTOR." He turned his head just as the lead white Dalek came into view followed by the red and yellow Daleks. They turned him around so he could be face to face with the Daleks,

"Scanned? Scanned by what, a box?"

"YOUR LIMITS AND CAPACITIES HAVE BEEN EXTRAPOLATED." Cybermen had come into play now. My heart was racing beyond it's normal function and I was being filled to the brim with fear. There was grunting and the Judoon appeared. Then Sontarans came into view,

"The Pandorica is ready." More were appearing and the Doctor took in all the new arrivals,

"Ready for what?"

"READY FOR YOU." The Dalek's voice held no emotion but I bet that it was enjoying this. The Pandoric finally opened the whole way to reveal what looked to be an electronic prison with a seat with clamps all over it. My heart sunk. I knew where this was going. So did the Doctor. He pulled and pulled against the Romans but they held him firm and began to pull him towards it,

"Theta!" My throat burned with the pain but I called to him again, "Theta!" They drug him to the prison and I tried to stand. I only got so far before my legs would give out. I only made it to the front of the box and then stopped. The Romans strapped him in and he struggled against them as the restraints were put in place. He looked at them all and I saw the look of fear and pain in his eyes,

"You lot, working together, an alliance… How is that possible?"

"THE CRACKS IN THE SKIN OF THE UNIVERSE." The Dalek spoke as if it was a simple matter,

"All reality is threatened." The Sontaran was just as vocal as the Dalek had been,

"ALL UNIVERSES WILL BE DELETED." The Cybermen, the Sontarans, the Daleks. Everything that ever hated the Doctor was here and they were all working together.

"What? And you've come to me for help?" My poor Theta. If only that were true,

"No." The Sontaran spat at him, "We will save the universe from **you**!"

"From me?" The Cyberman stood there just as emotionless as the Daleks and my heart was simply breaking.

"ALL PROJECTIONS CORRELATE. ALL EVIDENCE CONCURS. THE DOCTOR WILL DESTROY THE UNIVERSE."

"No, no, no. you've got it wrong."

"THE PANDORICA WAS CONSTRUCTED TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THE ALLIANCE." The Daleks chimed in,

"A SCENARIO WAS DEVISED FROM THE MEMORIES OF YOUR COMPANION." Then the Sontaran who held hate in his voice,

"A trap the Doctor could not resist. And to ensure our secrecy we made sure your Starheart friend could not read anybody." I thought back to when we arrived here.

_"Excuse me miss." I turned to see a servant standing there, "Would you like a drink?"_

_"No thank you. I'm quite aright."_

_"Bu I insist madam, it is the best in all the world and someone of your stature deserves something of such quality. Please mam it would be a disgrace to my honour if you did not drink." I smiled at him,_

_"I am no one of great importance my good man, but I would not disgrace you so I will drink to you." I took the glass and raised it to him before taking a drink. He smiled and bowed,_

_"Thank you mam."_

I groaned. That's when I was poisoned. When I accepted the drink from the servant,

"THE CRACKS IN TIME ARE THE WORK OF THE DOCTOR. IT IS CONFIRMED."

"No. No, no. Not me, the TARDIS. And I'm not **in **the TARDIS, am I?"

"ONLY THE DOCTOR CAN PIOLET THE TARDIS." I was overcome with shock that I almost missed what the Daleks had said.

"Please, listen to me…"

"YOU WILL BE PREVENTED."

"Total even collapse! Every sun sill supernova at every moment in history. The Whole universe will never have existed! PLEASE, LISTEN TO ME!" Supernova… I realized where all that pain in my dream now came from. Every single star and sun in the universe would explode… including my stars. The Cyberman stepped forward,

"SEAL THE PANDORICA."

"No! Please, Listen to me! The TARDIS is exploding right now and I'm the only one who can stop it!" I looked up at the Doctor and his eyes met mine. Tears streamed down his face, "LISTEN TO ME…!" The doors shut.

Then I felt it. Every single star exploding at once. The pain was immense and I felt everything around me go. But with whatever strength I had left I said one last thing before darkness took me,

"I love you Theta…"


	33. The end of everything and the beginning

Silence was all that I heard now. Nothing but silence filled my ears. I don't know how long I lied there but the silence was deafening. I just wanted something, anything to break it. It seemed like hours until I heard it. Like something was scuttling across the ground. It was coming towards me. It grew louder as it came closer and then when I thought it was going to run into me it stopped. The silence had returned and I wondered if the sound would come back. It was better than the stillness that had invaded my mind. Then I felt it, a hand on my arm. It shook me. Then a muffled voice. I couldn't quite make the words out but after a while the voice became more clear,

"Phoenix… Phoenix. Open your eyes. Please open your eyes." Phoenix? Open my eyes? Phoenix…my name. Open my eyes… slowly I opened my eyes and a dull light pierced through them. Everything was fuzzy and spinning but eventually things came into focus. I saw a tall man in front of me. He had on a gold and red outfit. A…Roman?...Rory… His name is Rory. He seemed…happy? "You're alive!" He pulled me up and I stumbled. "I thought you were dead." Dead… dying. I'm dying. Everything started to flood back. Memories and faces started to come back to me. I took a deep breathe as I felt my senses come back. Then I clutched onto Rory's arms. The pain had come back as well.

"Rory…" My voice sounded harsh and raspy and then I remembered, "We… have to get him… out of there." I was moving towards the box but it was very hard. It was like trying to move after you've been hit by a lorry. Impossible. Rory grabbed onto my arm and held tight,

"Easy, I've got this." He held up the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.

"H-how… did you… how did you get that?"

"He gave it to me… it's complicated. Come on." He helped me walk towards the box and then lifted the screwdriver up and pointed it at the box. He pressed the button and the box opened. The clamps released the Doctor and it was silent for a moment,

"How did you do that?" His voice was slightly hoarse and he looked slightly worn out,

"You gave me this." Rory held up the screwdriver. The Doctor pulled his out,

"No, I didn't."

"You did. Look at it." The Doctor stood up and walked out of the box and touched his screwdriver with the one in Rory's hands and sparks flew,

"Temporal energy. Same screwdriver, at different points in it's own time stream. Which means it was me who gave it to you. Me from the future. I've got a future, that's nice…That's not." He pointed at the Dalek who looked like he was covered over a thousand years of decay. Like it had been covered in ash at Pompeii."

"Yeah. What are they?"

"History has collapsed. Whole races have been deleted from existence. These are just like after-images." He was walking through the rubble and there were only remains of those that were here just moments ago. I looked at my clothes and they were covered in the ash-like stuff. He touched one of the Romans helmets, "Echoes, fossils in time. The footprints of the never-were."

"Er, what does that mean?"

"Total event collapse. The universe literally never happened."

"So, how can we be here? What's keeping us safe?"

"Nothing. Eye of the storm, that's all. We're just the last light to go out." Pain shot through me and I groaned and doubled over.

"Phoenix. Are you alright? Doctor what's wrong?" The Doctor was holding me now and lifted my head to look at me. My eyes darted from him to Rory and then I squeezed them shut as a wave of pain came over me.

"Phoenix…"

"Pain… all that pain… all those people… they're all dead." Slowly the pain went away and I fell still. I was breathing hard and the Doctor picked me up, "Amy. Where's Amy?" A pained look came over Rory's face,

"She's… she's dead…I…"

"Show me." The Doctor followed Rory up the stairs and out onto the grass. I looked up and grimaced at the sight of the pitch black night. The stars were gone. My stars were gone.

"Theta…"

"I know." Rory gave us a confused look,

"What?" 

"The stars. They're all gone."

"Okay…I still don't get it."

"All the stars are gone. Even Phoenix's stars are gone." He still seemed lost, "It's one thing when the other stars go out. She feels them die yes but her stars are now gone as well. A Starheart is bound to their set of stars. She's now not only suffering from the poison but she's also suffering from the separation of her own stars. The effects of all the stars going out has weakened her and now she's trying to survive. She is her own being yes but when a Starheart's stars go out they can't feel anymore. They can't read the hearts of others anymore. For a human it'd be like… living in a hospital on life-support. You're alive but you're miserable. Starheart's live to feel, they live to heal people and to make them better. Take that away… and they have no reason to live. No drive." I was hurting. I couldn't feel anything but my own pain. We stopped in front of a body that was covered up by a blanket. The Doctor lied me down on the ground and then lifted the blanket to reveal a still Amy.

"I killed her." Rory's voice was choked with pain.

"Oh, Rory…"

"Doctor, what am I?"

"You're a Nestene duplicate. A lump of plastic with delusions of humanity." He soniced her body,

"But I'm Rory now. Whatever was happening, it's stopped. I'm Rory!"

"That's software talking."

"Can you help her? Is there anything you can do?"

"Yeah, probably, if I had the time."

"The time?"

"All of creation has just been wiped from the sky. Do you know how many live now never happened?" He stepped over Amy and had his back to Rory, "All the people who never lived? Your girlfriend isn't more important than the whole universe." Rory turned the Doctor around than slugged him,

"SHE IS TO ME!" The Doctor leapt back off the ground and laughed,

"Welcome back, Rory Williams!" He cracked his jaw before turning back around, "Sorry, had to be sure. Hell of a gun-arm you're packing there. Right, we need to get her downstairs. And take that look off your plastic face. You're getting married in the morning!" He helped get her into Rory's arms before helping me stand and we all went right back downstairs again. I sat down on the ground again and the Doctor took Amy from Rory and placed her in the Pandorica. Rory stood beside him,

"So…you've gota plan, the?"

"Bit of a plan, yeah. Memories are more powerful than you think, and Amy Pond is not an ordinary girl. Grew up with a time crack in her wall, the universe pouring through her dreams every night. The Nestenes took a memory print of her and got more than they bargained for. Like you. Not just your face, but your heart and your soul." He closed his eyes and placed his hands on the side of her face, "I'm leaving her a message for when she wakes up, so she knows what's happening. He opened his eyes and smiled a bit before stepping away from the box and pulling out his screwdriver and sealing it shut again.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing?"

"Saving her. This box is the ultimate prison. You can't even escape by dying. It forces you to stay alive."

"But she's already dead."

"Mostly dead. The Pandorica can stasis-lock her that way. Now all it needs is a scan of her living DNA and it'll restore her."

"And where's it going to get that?" He looked at his watch then back to Rory,

"In about two thousand years." He turned and walked to the other side of the Pandorica where he began to rummage through a bag,

"Yeah, but we're taking a shortcut." He pulled a device out the bag and strapped it onto his wrist, "River's Vortex Manipulator. Rubbish way to time travel, but the universe is tiny now. We'll be fine."

"So hang on the future's still there, then? Our world?"

"A version of it. not quite the one you know. Earth alone in the sky. Let's go and have a look." He helped me up and placed my hand on the device then looked to Rory, "You put your hand there. Don't worry. Should be safe."

"That's not what I'm worried about." He walked towards the box,

"She'll be fine. Nothing can get into this box." He scoffed,

"You got in there."

"Well, there's only one of me. I counted."

"This box needs a guard. I killed the last one."

"No. Rory, no. Don't even think about it."

"She'll be all alone."

"She won't feel it."

"You bet she won't!"

"Two thousand years, Rory. You won't even sleep, you'd be conscious every second. It would drive you…mad."

"Will she be safer if I stay? Look me in the eye and tell me she wouldn't be safer."

"Rory…"

"Answer me!" He didn't say anything. He pursed his lips then sighed,

"Yes. Obviously."

"Then how could I leave her?"

"Why do you have to be so…human?"

"Because right now, I'm not." The Doctor smirked then began to punch in some numbers,

"Listen to me. This is the last bit of advice you're going to get in a very long time. You're living plastic, but not immortal. I have no idea how long you'll last. And you're not indestructible. Stay away from heat and radio signals when they come along. You can't heal or repair yourself so any damage is permanent. So, for God's sake, however bored you get, stay our of-" He hit the button and we vanished.


	34. Twelve minutes to live

-"Trouble." When we reappeared we were in front of an ash covered Dalek. We turned around to find two Amy's. A younger one and the one we know, "Ah, two of you...complicated."

"EXTERMINATE!" It tried to fire but nothing happened, "WEAPONS SYSTEMS RESTORING." The Doctor took my hand and Amy's while I took the younger ones and we were off,

"Come along, Ponds."

"EXTERMINATE!" We only made it a short ways around the corner before the Doctor stopped beside one of the manikins and Amy had the same question I did,

"What are we doing?" He ran into one of them knocking a fez of its heads,

"Well, we are running into a dead end, where I'll have a brilliant plan that basically involves not being in one." He ended up walking out of the display with the fez."

"What's going on?" We all looked towards where the voice had come from and had a light shone in our eyes. The Doctor ran towards the wall trying not to be seen,

"Get out of here. Go! Just run!" The Dalek turned towards it,

"DROP THE DEVICE!" The Doctor intervened,

"It's not a weapon. Scan it. It's not a weapon, and you don't have the power to waste."

"SCANS INDICATE INTRUDER UNARMED."

"Do you think?" He dropped the torch and his hand folded back to reveal a gun. Rory. He fired off a couple shots and the Dalek backed away.

"VISION IMPAIRED! VISION…" The Dalek shut down for a moment. The Doctor came running out sonicing the Dalek making sure it was actually shut down.

"Amy?"

"Rory…" Took her a moment but she ran to him and wrapped him in a hug,

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I couldn't help it, it just happened."

"Oh shut up." And she shut him up alright. She planted a kiss on his lips and the Doctor came over just as they broke apart,.

"Yeah, shut up, cos we've got to go. Come on!"

"I waited. Two thousand years, I waited for you." They didn't seem remotely interested in the Doctor's words. He rolled his eyes.

"No, still shut up." She pulled him back and kissed him again. The Doctor moved to one side of them,

"And break," then moved to the other side, "And breathe. Well, somebody didn't get out much for Two thousand years." He turned around and Amelia pulled on his arm,

"I'm thirsty. Can I get a drink?"

"Oh, it's all mouths today, isn't it?" he put the fez on her head so it was over her eyes. I smiled at him and he pulled me to him and I leaned heavily against him. She pulled it off and shoved it back at him with a grin. I smiled at him and leaned close to him so my lips were by his ears,

"You would've been a great father…" He had a sad smile on his face and leaned in closer,

"And you a great mother." He gently kissed me before something caught his eye, "The light! The light from the Pandorica, it must have hit the Dalek." The Doctor had moved closer but then the Dalek started to come back to life. It was rebooting. "Out, out, out!" We all ran out into the next room shutting the doors behind us, "So, two thousand years. How did you do?" Rory locked them before the Doctor soniced them,

"Kept out of trouble."

"Oh." He walked away and held the fez like he didn't know what to do with it and so he simply put it on his head.

"How?" He ran over to where the mop and soap bucket where laying and picked up the mop.

"Unsuccessfully… The mop!" The Doctor stopped and skidded to a halt, "That's how you looked all those years ago when you gave me the sonic."

"Ah! Well, no time to loose, then." He punched in some numbers and hit the button and vanished before a second later he reappeared, "Oops, sorry." He put the mop through the door handles. Amelia was wide eyes and looked at Amy,

"How can he do that? Is he magic?" He vanished again before reappearing,

"Right…let's go, then." He started to run up the steps before turning around, "Wait! Now I don't have the sonic- I just gave it to Rory two thousand years ago." He punched in more numbers and vanished again before reappearing moments later, "Right then." He walked over to Amy and opened her jacket and pulled out the sonic, "Off we go! No, hang on. How did **you** know…to come here?" He pointed at Amelia and went down the stairs again and got down so he was eye level with her. She pulled out a pamphlet and a sticky note and the Doctor took it, "Ah, my handwriting. Ok!" he threw them behind his head and ran over and grabbed a pamphlet then a sticky note and a red pen and started scribbling things down on it before pushing more buttons and vanishing again. He reappeared with a drink in his hands. He handed it to Amelia, "There you go, drink up!" Amy was bewildered,

"What is that? How are you doing that?"

"Vortex Manipulator- cheap and nasty time travel. Very bad for you. I'm trying to give it up." She seemed un-amused,

"Where are we going?"

"The roof." He turned around only to have a more beaten up version of himself and what I assumed was a dead me in his arms. The beaten up Doctor laid my body on the ground before standing up again and loosing almost all energy he fell down the stairs. He didn't move. Theta scanned him before running up to my body and scanning it. He went back down to his body and was scanning it again,

"Doctor, it's you. Both of you. How can it be you?" He moved his head a bit to get a good look at the damage. Amy was clearly upset,

"Doctor, **is **that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. And that," He looked up at the figure at the top of the stairs that was still, "is Phoenix… Us from the future." The "dead" Doctor opened his eyes and shot up taking Theta and pulling him close and whispering something in his ear before falling back down to the ground…dead. Theta's eyes met mine and we stared at each other for a long time. I knew what was said. Simply because I know him and he always has a plan. He wouldn't just die without knowing he saved the universe. Rory looked like he had been hit by a lorry. He looked to Amy who stumbled over her words,

"Are you… I mean, is he…and her is she…are they dead?" The words were hard for her to spit out. Theta's eyes were still locked with mine and he blinked before he answered in a much more…quiet voice,

"What?" he stood up and regained his composer. "Dead? Yes, yes. Of course they're dead. Right." He started up the steps, "We've got twelve minutes. That's good." He took hold of my hand and squeezed it tight.

"Twelve minutes to live? How is that good?" Amy was upset and it rang through her voice giving away what she was feeling.

"Oh you can do loads in twelve minutes- suck a mint, buy a sledge, have a fast bath. Come on, the roof!" Rory looked at me then the Doctor,

"We can't leave you here, dead."

"Oh, good- are you in charge now?" The Doctor was irritated because they were not making this any easier, "So, tell me, what are we going to do about Amelia?" They both turned around only to find her abandoned drink lying on the ground. They ran back down the stairs and they both looked for the girl,

"Where'd she go?"

"Amelia?" The Doctor started back down the stairs,

"There is no Amelia. From now on there never was. History is still collapsing."

"How can **I **be here if she's now?"

"You're an anomaly. We all are. We're all hanging on at the eye of the storm, but the eyes is closing, and if we don't do something fast, reality will never have happened. Today, just dying is a result. Now, come on!" He took hold of my hand again and we were off. We kept going and the others still hadn't followed us, "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry." I stopped and lifted his chin so his eyes met mine,

"Shut up." I pulled him close and gently kissed him. "You have **nothing **to be sorry for. I'd follow you to the end of everything. And here I am." The pain in his eyes was a horrid thing to look at but I wasn't going to let him blame himself, "I love you." I placed my hand on the side of his face and he put his hand over it and gave me a sad smile.

"I love you…" He let out a sigh before taking my hand again. He turned back towards where we had come from and the others still hadn't followed, "Move it! Come on!" Now they moved.

My breathing was hard and I rested against the wall before sliding down to the floor. Rory knelt beside me,

"Doctor!" He turned around and came running back. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and gave me a once over,

"Her system is almost dead. About ten minutes left and then it'll eat away at her organs." Amy looked solemn,

"Ten minutes. So that means in two minutes it'll kill her because you said you had twelve minutes to live." The doctor didn't look at her,

"I know…" And with that he pulled me up and then picked me up off my feet, "Come on, we haven't got time to waste." He began moving again, "I'm not going to loose you…"


	35. Lets reboot the universe

We finally made it out to the roof and I had recovered enough strength to stand on my own and walk a bit. The Doctor walked ahead of us towards the middle of the roof. It was bright outside. Brighter than it should've been.

"What, it's morning already? How did that happen?"

"History is shrinking. Is anybody listening tome? Universe it collapsing. We don't have much time left." He turned and ran towards a satellite dish,

"What are you doing?" He soniced it before ripping it off the pole,

"Looking for the TARDIS."

"But the TARDIS exploded."

"Ok, then, I'm looking for the exploding TARDIS." It was Amy's turn now to get a word in,

"I don't understand. So, the TARDIS blew up and took the universe with it. But why would it do that? How?"

"Good question for another day." He leapt onto the ledge of the roof, "The question for now is…total even collapse means that every star in the universe never happened. Not one single one of them ever shone. Not even Phoenix's stars. So, if all the stars that ever were are gone, then what… is that?" He pointed his screw driver at the burning ball that hung in the sky, "Like I said, 'I'm looking for and exploding TARDIS.'"

"But that's the sun." Oh Rory you didn't pay attention in primary school did you.

"Is it? Well here's the noise that sun is making right now." He held the dish up and soniced it. The sound made my heart break. "That's my TARDIS burning up." I heard something. Just for a second. Like a whisper, "That's what's been keeping the Earth warm."

"Doctor, there's something else." I turned to Rory, "There's a voice."

"Almost like a whisper."

"You heard it too?" I nodded. The Doctor soniced it again and Amy leaned over to Rory,

"I can't here anything."

"Trust the plastic." The voice grew stronger and louder,

"I'm sorry, my love." It kept repeating over and over again. I knew that voice.

"Doctor, that's River. How can **she **be up there?"

"It must be like a recording or something." Nice try Amy and Rory but I think you're wrong. The TARDIS was much more cleverer than to just let itself be blown to smithereens with no way out.

"No, it's not a recording. Of course- the emergency protocols. The TARDIS has sealed off the control room and put her into a time loop to save her. She is right at the heart of the explosion." He pulled out his sonic screw driver and soniced his vortex manipulator. He came over to me and looked me in the eyes,

"You better come back or I swear I'll break you in half." He smiled and I smiled back but my smile turned into a grimace as I felt the pain grow, "Hurry…" He quickly kissed me before backing up,

"I will, I promise." He pushed the button and was gone. I slumped to the ground and held my side. I gasped as I felt more pain shoot through me.

"Phoenix!" Rory was down by my side in a matter of seconds. He placed his hand on my head and opened my eye lids, "Fever. Dilated pupils."

"In a few moments I'll go into shock… and then…" Moments later he returned with River.

"Amy! And the plastic Centurion?"

"It's ok, he's on our side."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"I dated a Nestene duplicate once- swappable head, it did keep things fresh." I gripped Rory's hand as I started coughing and the Doctor came running over.

"She's got a fever and dilated pupils and in a few minutes or so… she'll go into shock…and then…" I pulled my hand back after I was done coughing and wiped my mouth. Blood. My blood,

"And then I die…" After a few moments my pain subsided and he helped me up,

"What's wrong with her? She wasn't like this when I left to get the TARDIS." No one said anything so I decided to say it,

"I'm dying River."

"How?"

"Poisoned." The Doctor took over for me, "And now her system has failed and so it's only a matter of time before it eats away at her organs." Rivers face held sadness and a pity. There was another pause before River said anything,

"Right…then, I have questions. But number one is this- What in the name of sanity have you got on you head." She looked at the Doctor and I chuckled,

"It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool." She looked at me and I winked at her and then she looked at Amy who smirked before quickly taking off the fez and throwing it, "Oh!" river took out her blaster and blew it to bits. She smirked and I laughed. But all that faded when we heard that spine chilling voice,

"EXTERMINATE!" The Dalek rose up over the ledge just barely hovering,

"Run, run! Move, move! Go! Come on!" He handed me off to River who I leaned heavily against and he picked up the dish and used it as shield against the Daleks blasts. We moved back and climbed back down into the building. Once we were all in the Doctor soniced it shut. River had her gun trained on the door,

"Doctor, come on."

"Shhh!... it's moving away, finding another way in. It needs to restore its power before it can attack again. Now, that means we've got exactly…" He looked at his watch, "four and a half minutes before it's at lethal capacity."

"How do you know?" He took my hand and lead me down the stairs.

"Because that's when it's due to kill me…and her." River whipped around,

"Kill you? What'd you mean, kill you?"

"Oh, shut up, never mind." I slid down the wall again as more coughing overwhelmed me. The Doctor was beside me and he was holding my face in his hands. His hands were turning blue from the blood I was coughing up but this didn't seem to phase him. I kept coughing and he soniced me. "Three and a half minutes…" He picked me up,

"You'll get blood on you." He chuckled a bit,

"It doesn't matter. As long as I get to hold you." I shut my eyes and sighed, "How can that Dalek even exist? It as erased from time and then it came back. How?"

"You said the light from the Pandorica…"

"It's not a light, it's a restoration field, but never mind. Call it a light. That light brought Amy back, but how could it bring back a Dalek when the Daleks have never existed?" Amy spoke up,

"Ok, tell us."

"When the TARDIS blew up, it caused a total even collapse, a time explosion. And that explosion blasted every atom in every moment of the universe, except…" He stopped and turned around waiting for someone else to catch on. Amy was the first,

"Except inside the Pandorica."

"The perfect prison. And inside it, perfectly preserved, a few billion atoms of the universe as it was. In theory, you could extrapolate the whole universe from a single on of them, like, like cloning a body from a single cell." He pointed at Rory seeing how that was Rory. A clone from a cell, "And we've got the bumper family pack." Rory shook his head,

"No, no, too fast, I'm not getting it."

"The box contains a memory of the universe, and the light transmits the memory. And that's how we're going to do it."

"Do what?"

"Relight the fire. Reboot the universe. Come on!" and with that he was off again. My head rested against his shoulder, "Hang in there… not long now."

"Doctor, you're being completely ridiculous." Of course he is River that's' why he's in charge. She was right beside us now, "The Pandorica partially restored one Dalek. If it can't even reboot a single life form properly, how is it going to reboot the whole of reality?" She stopped and the Doctor whipped around and headed back toward her,

"**I'M NOT LOOSING HER**!" There was a pause for a moment as the Doctor regained his composure. River's face, for a moment, showed hurt, "What if we give it a moment of infinite power? What if we can transmit the light from the Pandorica to every particle of space and time simultaneously?"

"Well, that would be lovely, dear, but we can't, because it's completely impossible."

"Ah, no, you see it's not. It's **almost **completely impossible. One spark is all we need."

"For what?"

"Big Bang two! Now, listen…" He turned around just a bit and a Dalek shot him. He took the shot and fell with me still firmly in his arms.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" Rory pushed Amy back and was calling for River,

"Get back! River, get back now!"

"EXTERMINATE!" Rory shot his little hand gun at it and it shut down again. The Doctor was shaking and I felt River's hands brush past my face,

"Doctor, it's me, River. Doctor, can you hear me? What is it? What do you need?" He reached for the manipulator on his wrist and hit a few buttons then…we vanished.


	36. Geronimo! we're going down memory lane

I opened my eyes to find Theta standing over me. He gave me a weak smile, "Twelve minutes into the past." He lifted me up and carried me down the stairs and into the room where the Pandorica was held. My body was weak and I could feel it decaying inside. He sat down in the Pandorica with me in his lap, my head against his chest. He began to wire up the vortex manipulator into the Pandorica,

"We do this and the universe come back…"

"But we won't…" I placed my hand on his cheek,

"I'd rather die in your arms than die alone." He kissed my hand,

"And I won't live without you."

"I was going to marry you…" He leaned down and slowly kissed me. I kissed him back as the tears streamed down my face. He pulled back and rested his head against mine,

"I wouldn't marry anybody else."

"I love you Theta…so much…"

"I love you too Phoenix…I love you with all my hearts…" He shut his eyes and I shut mine. We stayed that way for the longest time.

"DOCTOR!" The others came running in but Theta still hadn't moved. I could here the others but it was hard to hear over the pounding that was growing in my head.

"Why did they tell us they were dead?"

"We were a diversion." I felt Theta's head being lifted off of mine. "Long as the Dalek was chasing us, he could work down here."

"Doctor, can you here me?" This voice was closer and clearer. River must be her. "What were you doing?" There was another pause before I heard another voice,

"What's happening?" Rory. Good old Rory.

"Reality's collapsing. It's speeding up. Look at this room."

"Where'd everything go?" Amy, poor Amy.

"History's being erased. Time's running out. Doctor, what were you doing? Tell us!" She was shaking him. I felt my own body shake. "Doctor?" I felt his grip tighten a bit and I felt his chest heave with struggled breaths.

"Big…Bang…Two."

"The Big Bang. That's the beginning of the universe, right?"

"What and Big Bang Two is the bang that brings us back? Is that what you mean?"

"Oh…" River was beginning to catch on,

"What?"

"The TARDIS is still burning. It's exploding at every point in history. If you threw the Pandorica into the explosion, right into the heart of the fire…"

"Then what?

"Then let there be light. The light from the Pandorica would explode everywhere at once, Just like he said."

"And- and that would work? The would bring everything back?"

"A restoration field, powered by and exploding TARDIS, happening at every moment in history. Oh, that's brilliant. It might even work!" I heard the sound of the sonic before her voice took over again, "He's wired the Vortex Manipulator to the rest of the box."

"Why?" Amy. The concern was making her voice crack,

"So he can take it with him. He's going to fly the Pandorica into the heart of the explosion." I heard someone talking but it was muffled by the pounding in my head. I felt someone touch my cheek and I struggled to open my eyes. When I did I saw that was Theta. I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I heard a strangled cry and looked to my left to see Amy,

"Hi…" It took him a moment but he responded,

"Amy Pond…the girl who waited. All night, in your garden. Was it worth it?"

"Shut up. Of course it was."

"You asked me why I was taking you with me, and I said…'No reason.'… I was lying."

"It's not important."

"Yeah, it's the most important thing left in the universe. It's why I'm doing this… Amy, your house was too big. That big, empty house. Just you."

"And Aunt Sharon."

"Where were your mum and dad? Where was… everybody who lived in that big house?"

"I lost my mum and dad."

"How? What happened to them? Where did they go?"

"I… I don't…"

"It's ok, it's ok. Don't panic. It's not your fault."

"I don't even remember."

"There was a crack in time in the wall of your bedroom. And it's been eating away at your life for a long time now. Amy Pond…all alone. The girl who didn't make sense. How could I resist?"

"But how could I just forget? How can I forget you and Phoenix?"

"Nothing is ever forgotten, not really. But you have to try." The place shook and I could feel the earth shake beneath us,

"Doctor! It's speeding up!" Amy lifted the Sonic and pressed the button once before placing it in his pocket,

"There's going to be a very big bang- Big Bang Two. Try and remember your family, and they'll be there. How can I remember them if they never existed?"

"Because… you're special. That crack in your wall, all that time, the universe pouring into your head. You brought Rory back you can bring them back too. You just remember…and they'll be there." She pulled back and out of the box.

"You won't. Neither of you will."

"You'll have your family back. You won't need your imaginary friends any more." The box began to take hold of him. Theta let out a weak laugh, "Amy Pond…crying over us, eh? Guess what?" The box was starting to close

"What?"

"Gotcha!" And with that the box closed. He hit a few buttons on the communicator then dropped it while he panted. I felt everything leaving me and I opened my mouth and forced the words out,

"Goodbye…" My eyes slid shut and I saw everything flash before me. Everything that happened from when we were in the box all the way back to when we landed in Rome. Then I gasped and my eyes shot open and I sat up straight. I felt someone's arms around me,

"It's alright, you're alright." I looked beside me,

"Theta." He smiled and pulled me to him and held me in a tight hug,

"I told you I wouldn't loose you…" I looked around and noticed that we were in the TARDIS. I gave him a questioning look and he shrugged.

"What happened?"

"We escaped, then, Brilliant! I love it when we do that. Legs, yes. Bow tie, cool." He reached up to his head and shrugged, "I can by a fez." I rolled my eyes,

"You are not buying a fez. But what happened to me? Why am I here?" He opened his mouth to say something when I heard another voice. Actually it was the Doctor's voice,

"_Now, the beach…the beach is the best. Automatic sand._"

"_Automatic sand? What does that mean?_" Amy? We stood up and saw ourselves and Amy.

"_It's automated, totally_."

"_Ignore him. He doesn't understand that you have to explain theses things with more detail." _That was me.

"Oh."

"_Cleans up the lolly sticks and…" _

"No, hang on! That's last week when we went to Space Florida." Amy was in shorts and a tropical shirt with sunglasses on and I was in my shorts and tank top. The Doctor was fiddling with the controls. "We're rewinding. Our- our- our time stream…unravelling, erasing. Closing. Big Bang reversed everything that's happened. So…"

"I wasn't poisoned." He smiled,

"No you weren't. But now we're going back… to the beginning of it all." He turned around and I followed suite and saw the crack. The crack in time. The crack was getting smaller, "Hello, universe. Goodbye Doctor and Phoenix." He turned around and looked at Amy who had her back to us, "Amy?" Slowly she turned around and looked around the place. She looked right through us, "Amy?" Then there was a bright light and we were being thrown back again. Back to when we met Craig. We were out on the street just outside the flat. And there was Amy delivering the letter, "Ah. Three weeks ago, when she put the card in the window. Amy!" She looked up towards us but didn't seem to notice that much, she seemed much more interested in the cat she was petting, "I need to tell you something!" She walked away, "She can hear me! But if she can hear me…" Slowly we turned around and saw a small crack on the ground then we were thrown back in time. The Doctor was gripping my hand but I felt myself loosing his grip,

"Theta!"

"Phoenix!" Our hands separated and I fell away from him. When everything stopped I found myself outside my house again. Just before the TARDIS landed. I heard the crash and I ran to the front I saw myself talking to him,

"Doctor! Amy! Rory!" The Doctor looked my way and stared at me for a second before looking back at me. I opened my mouth to say something but was thrown back again. I saw everything flying before me. All my life in Wales was going by. It all lead to one moment. The moment I said goodbye to the Doctor. The trainers, the suite, the coat… they all made me smile. We were standing outside of Cardiff,

"_Jack's around here somewhere. He won't know who you are yet but he'll help you. Just tell him your one of my friends_." I laughed,

"_He'll never let me out of his sight then."_ He chuckled as well. I saw the tears streaming down my face and I saw the pained look in his face that I had missed before. He lifted my chin so my eyes met his,

"_I will be back_." I watched as I wrapped my arms around him and he held me back. I saw him fight off his own tears. I saw him as he buried his face in my hair.

"_Promise me. Promise me you'll come back_." I saw him shut his eyes and blink away the tears. He pulled back and took my chin and looked me in the eyes,

"_I promise_." With that he leaned forward and kissed my head before entering the TARDIS. She watched it vanish before falling to her knees and crying. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I jumped. I turned around to see the Doctor. My Doctor. Suspenders and bow tie. He took my hand.

"I promised… I promised I'd never leave you." He looked towards the crack, "I thought if she could hear me…could hang on somehow. It took me back to the night I met her, the night I would have met her. She won't remember us. Not much. Just a story in her head." He sighed, "A daft old man who stole a magic box and ran away with a girl of the stars." He sighed and at that moment just how long the years had been for him, "The cracks are closing. They won't close properly till we're on the other side… We don't belong here anymore." He sighed, "I think I'll skip the rest of the rewind. I hate repeats…" I kissed his hand and he kissed my cheek. And with that we walked into the crack and it snapped shut behind us.


	37. The old wedding saying

Amy looked around the room at the people who had come to see her wedding. She watched as her father stood and announced that he would need another two minutes to finish his speech. That he was reviewing certain aspects. Amy laughed while her mother groaned,

"Your father Amelia will be the absolute death of me. Unless of course I strike preemptively." She laughed but her laughter seized when she saw a curly blonde haired woman walk past the window. She stood and stared out of the window while Rory watched her.

"You okay?" She looked down at him,

"Yeah… I'm fine. I'm…" She sat down and pulled her chair towards the table. Rory didn't believe her,

"Alright…uh…you're crying." She sniffed and touched her cheek,

"And so I am…why am I doing that?"

"Because you're…happy probably. Happy Mrs. Rory. Happy, happy, happy." She shook her head,

"No. I'm sad… I'm really **really **sad." Rory looked ahead and sighed,

"Great…"

"Why am I sad?" Her eyes fell to the table and something caught her attention, "What's that?"

"Oh, a someone left it for you… a-a woman." He held up the blue book and the necklace and Amy snatched them out of his hand,

"What is it?" she began to flip through the pages,

"A book." She ran her hand across the book. It seemed so familiar.

"It's blank. And this?" She held up the necklace that was just as familiar as the book. She ran her thumb over the pendant that was a dull milky blue color. It looked as though the life had left it. That it had lost its shine.

"It's a necklace. They're presents, Amy."

"But why?"

"Well you know the old saying," She didn't answer him, "t-the old wedding…thing. Huh?" Amy looked back to the book and the necklace, "Amy? Wh- hey?" her head shot up just her dad stood to make his long awaited speech.

"Ready now. Sorry about that. Last minute adjustments to certain aspects."

_Oh, that box,_

Amy looked at a young man who was laughing but what she noticed was that he was wearing a bow tie.

_Big and little at the same time, _

Her father's voice faded away as she looked around the room again and her eyes landed on a man but what she saw were the suspenders_._

_Amy, you'll dream about that box _

Amy looked back down at the book and necklace as a tear slid down her face.

_It'll never leave you. _

She lifted her head and looked out at all those who gathered to see her wedding.

_Brand-new and ancient,_

Something was missing. Some**one **was missing.

_And the bluest blue, ever__._

She stood up, "Shut up dad."

"Amy!"

"Amelia?"

"Sorry but shut up please. There's someone missing. Two missing actually. Someone important. And someone so, so important." Rory looked at is new bride with eyes full of concern.

"Amy, what's wrong?"

"Sorry." She cleared her throat, "Sorry everyone. But when I was a kid I had two imaginary friends." Her mother sighed,

"Oh no not this again."

"The raggedy Doctor and the star girl. My raggedy Doctor and star girl… But he wasn't imaginary… He was real." Everyone was shaking their head or snickering. Her mother made a comment about physiatrists but Amy ignored her, "I remember you! Both of you. **I remember! **I brought the others back I can bring you home too! Raggedy man I remember you and I remember you too star girl and **you are late or my wedding**!" There was a brief moment of silence before he glasses on the tables started to shake and a rumbling sound was heard, "I found you… I found you in words like you knew I would." The rumbling sound was growing louder and it started to sound more like a whirring tan a rumbling, "That's why you told me the story. The brand new, ancient blue box." The wind in the room was picking up, "Oh clever, very clever."

"Amy, what is it?"

"It's something old, something new, something borrowed… something blue." The Blue box slowly began to materialize in the center of the room. Realization began to dawn on Rory,

"It's the Doctor. And Phoenix. How did we forget the Doctor and Phoenix?" Amy climbed over the table and knocked furiously on the door,

"Okay Doctor, did I surprise you this time?"


	38. Things to come

The Doctor flung the door open to find Amy on the other side, "Uh, yeah… completely astonished. Never expected that. Luckily I happen to be wearing this old thing." He pulled on his black dress jacket. I rolled my eyes and pushed past him,

"Phoenix! You're alive!" Joy flooded Amy. She wrapped me up in a hug which I returned with a full laugh,

"I am and you look absolutely gorgeous!" She laughed,

"Well so do you!" I was wearing a dark blue dress that was simple with a little bit of a sparkle to it and was strapless. Rory stood and smiled as the Doctor strolled out onto the floor.

"Hello everyone!" He took my hand and pulled me over to him, "We're Amy's imaginary friends." He went over to Amy's dad who was confused and amazed all at once, "But we came anyway." He shook hands with him,

"You absolutely, defiantly may kiss the bride." The Doctor put his finger up against her lips to stop her,

"Amelia from now on I shall be leaving the," He wiped his finger on Rory's jacket, "kissing to the brand new Mr. Pond." He shook Rory's hand and I laughed,

"No. I'm not Mr. Pond. That's not how it works."

"Yeah it is."

"Yeah, it is."

"Besides I think that I would have my own set of problems if there was any kissing." I chuckled,

"Depends on who you're kissing." He gave me a smile before kissing my head,

"Right then everyone I'll move my box. You're gonna need the space. I only came for the dancing." He shut the door and the box disappeared. I turned to Rory who picked me up and swung me around in a hug,

"You're back!" Happiness filled his heart. I laughed,

"It's good to see you again Rory. And not as a plastic toy solider." He laughed. Moments later the Doctor came strolling back into the room.

"Just parked her outside. Now, let the dancing begin!" As the night went on the dancing got worse.

The Doctor threw his hands in the air and began to flop around the place like a fish. The children followed his every move. Amy laughed, "You're terrible! That is embarrassing!"

"That's it. That's good. Keep it loose." Amy had given up dancing for a bit and sat beside Rory while the Doctor taught the children his horrible dance moves. As the night went on the slower songs began to play. When I came back from the bathroom I found the Doctor leaning against the doorframe. He smiled at me and pulled me to him circling his arms around my waist. Amy and Rory were out on the dance floor. "Two thousand years. The boy who waited… Good on you, mate." I pulled the Doctor's hand and we went into the other room where there were no people and we could still hear the music. He spun me around once before pulling me to him,

"I'm really going to miss them."

"Me too." I pulled back a bit and softly kissed him. "Come on." He pulled my hand and lead me out the door to the TARDIS. He pulled his key out when I felt the mischief grow in my heart. River,

"Did you dance? Well, you always dance at weddings, don't you?" He smirked and turned around,

"You tell me."

"Spoilers!" He pulled out her diary,

"The writing's all back, but I didn't peek." River looked at me,

"I didn't peek either."

"Thank you." He then proceeded to hand her the vortex manipulator.

"Are you married, River?"

"Are you asking?" He paused,

"Yes."

"Yes."

"No, hang on. Did you think I was asking you to marry me, or-or-or asking if you were married? Cos I'm already getting married to somebody else."

"Yes."

"No, but was that "yes", or "yes"?" She leaned forward,

"Yes. But don't worry Phoenix, you are the first and the last. You always have been."

"River…who are you?"

"You're going to find out very soon now." She was trying to mask her heart from me. I couldn't quite figure out what she was talking about but I could feel the sadness in her and knew that there were hard times to come. "And I'm sorry, but that's when everything changes."

Yes very bad things were coming. She punched her vortex manipulator and disappeared.

"Ah…" He opened the door and then did a skip and threw his hat before dancing up the stairs and tossing his scarf to the side. I followed him up and quickly kissed him before pulling away, but he pulled me back to him. He placed his lips on mine once more before pulling away, "Now, about that wedding…" He never got to finish his sentence though because the TARDIS door opened and Amy walked in,

"Oi! Where are you two off to? We haven't even had a snog in the shrubbery yet." I laughed. I don't know why but I laughed. Rory walked in after her and shut the door,

"Amy!"

"Shut up, it's my wedding."

"**Our** wedding." I laughed again as Rory came up the stairs. I felt the joy in his heart and I threw my arms around his neck as he spun me around. "You're happy aren't you."

"I'm just happy that we're all in one piece and we're all alive." The Doctor took this moment to interrupt,

"Sorry, you two- shouldn't have slipped away. Bit busy, you know?" Rory chuckled,

"You just saved the whole of space and time. Take the evening off! Maybe a bit of tomorrow."

"Are you kidding, this man never takes a break."

"Space and time isn't safe yet. The TARDIS exploded for a reason. Something drew the TARDIS to this particular date and blew it up. Why? And Why now?" The phone started ringing and of course the Doctor took no notice, "The silence, whatever it is, is still out there, and I have to… excuse me a moment. Hello!" Now he picks up the phone. "Oh, hello. I'm sorry; this is a very bad line. No, no, no but that's not possible. She was sealed into the Seventh Obelisk. Phoenix and I were at the prayer meeting. Well, no, I get that it's important. An Egyptian goddess loose on the Orient Express… In space. Give us a mo." He put his hand over the phone, "Sorry, something's come up. This will have to be goodbye." Amy looked at us then to Rory,

"Yeah, I think it's goodbye. Do you think it's goodbye?" I felt it in their hearts. What they were doing.

"Definitely goodbye." Amy opened the TARDIS door and waved,

"Goodbye!...Goodbye…" then she shut it again and the Doctor picked the phone up again,

"Don't worry about a thing, your majesty. We're on our way." He hung the phone up and Amy joined us at the controls. The Doctor and I ran around the controls, pressing buttons and throwing levers along the way until he stopped and grinned at me. He winked at me then threw the switch sending the TARDIS back into time and space. Back into the adventure.

But in the back of my mind I knew that darker days were to come. And that the Doctor was going to be faced with some of the worst things to come. I reached over and grasped his hand. He smiled at me. But… he wouldn't have to face them alone. Not ever again.


	39. Honey moon and wedding plans

I let out a sigh as I slumped down against the TARDIS wall. Amy and Rory followed suite and sat down beside me. I looked down at my clothes which at the moment were covered in a purple ooze of some sort. I looked at Amy, who also was taking in her appearance,

"That was…" The Doctor came in with a smile on his face and was still covered in the purple ooze as well,

"Fantastic! Absolutely brilliant!"

"I was going to say disgusting. Fantastic wasn't the word I was going to use." I stood up and pulled Rory and Amy up.

"I'll have the TARDIS run a bath for you too and find you some new clothes." They sighed,

"Thanks Phoenix." Once they were out of the room I turned the Doctor who was examining the ooze. I sighed and began to clean off the Doctor.

"You know, as much as I want to be angry at you…" I wrapped my arms around him, "I find that it's just too hard to do." He smiled and kissed me, "Now lets go get cleaned up, because if I stay in these clothes any longer I think I may be sick." He laughed but followed me anyway.

Once we were both out of the shower I asked my question, "Theta."

"Yes." The Doctor was currently lying on bed while trying to tie his bow tie

"What would you say to giving Amy and Rory a proper honey moon." He smiled and pulled me down beside him,

"I think that's a fantastic idea. You know I know this cruise liner ship that owes me a favor-" I kissed him. More or less to shut him up,

"That'd be brilliant." He smiled and pulled me back to him. He pressed his lips to mine and I smiled.

"And I have a question for you."

"Alright."

"When we send Amy and Rory on their honey moon, what say we have our own wedding?" I smiled at him,

"Don't you think they'd be a bit cross if we got married with out them knowing? You'll need a best man. And I'll need a bridesmaid." He nodded,

"We could make the arrangements while they're gone." I laughed,

"Alright. We'll make the arrangements while they're gone." I smiled and stood up. "Come on. They're looking for us." I pulled him up. We went back to the control room ro find them changed and showered.

"So where are we off to next?"

"Well," I took the Doctor's hand, "We were thinking that since you two didn't get to have a proper honey moon that we were going to send you on your own honey moon." I felt Amy's heart leap for joy and Rory was just filled with happiness,

"Really!"

"Yeah, the Doctor knows someone who can get you two on a space cruise. Two whole weeks." Amy squealed,

"Really! This is fantastic!" She hugged me then the Doctor,

"And I can get you the honeymoon sweet as well." Amy was thrilled. Rory hugged me,

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now. We have something else that we'd like to ask you. More of a favor really."

"Anything!" I smiled and the Doctor took my hand,

"Well, Phoenix and I were wondering if you two…would… be in our wedding." I felt them both fill with more joy,

"Of course! That's not even a question! Yes we'll do it!" I laughed as Amy hugged me again. "Does this mean that we get to go shopping?" I laughed,

"Of course!" She laughed and then looked to the Doctor,

"You actually proposed. I'm surprised; I didn't think you had it in you."

"Oi, I take offense to that." We laughed.

"Alright you two go pack for your honey moon." They smiled and ran back to their room. I looked at the Doctor who smiled and pulled me to him.

"You know, I think I'm luckiest person alive."

"Really, why's that?" he placed a kiss on my neck,

"Because I'm going to be married to the most fantastic woman in the whole universe." I smiled and kissed him,

"Now you're just being a bit of a kiss up." He laughed and kissed me again, "But I don't mind." They came back with suitcases and smiled plastered on their faces,

"Ready!" The Doctor laughed and ran to the console,

"Alright then. What could possibly go wrong?" I rolled my eyes,

"With you, anything." He smirked at me. He pushed some buttons and threw some switches, "Shall we?" He threw the switch and we were off. Of course when you travel with the Doctor trouble is bound to follow.


	40. Let's visit Cardiff

After we had got Amy and Rory set up in the honeymoon suite of the space cruiser they were on the Doctor and I were off.

"So! Wedding plans… What say we start with… the cake! We must start with the cake!" I laughed,

"Fine we'll start with the cake." He clapped his hands together,

"Fantastic! I know the most amazing baker in Paris 1763. He makes the best cakes ever!" I laughed as the Doctor pulled me to him. I placed my hands on his chest as he smiled at me with a boyish grin, "You know you are… the most wonderful person I have ever met. I remember the day when I had to leave you on Earth for the second time, and I remember how much I wanted to take you with me and just run away. To run from all the evil in the universe and just run and explore new things. Just like we used to do." I smiled at him,

"You know when I first met you, you wore that ridiculous piece of celery." He laughed,

"Yes, and I wanted absolutely nothing to do with you." I nodded,

"Yes and I wanted nothing to do with you either." He laughed

"I thought you were some little stood up princess who I had to rescue." I pushed him lightly,

"Yeah, well, I thought you were a stuck up Time Lord who thought he was the gift to the universe." He smiled at me,

"Well, we found out how wrong we were didn't we?" I nodded and rested my head against his chest,

"Then I missed four of your regenerations! I didn't see you again until your last regeneration when you showed up with Martha! Then I got chased by some bleeding Daleks!"

"Hey! I said I was sorry! Besides you enjoyed every minute of it." I rolled my eyes,

"Just like I enjoyed hearing about how you and Donna almost got eaten by the Vashta Nerada. I was gone for one day and you managed to almost get killed!" He winced slightly at that one,

"Okay, point taken." I leaned up and kissed him,

"But I still love you." He smiled and then pulled a lever. The TARDIS lurched into life sending us sprawling to the floor. "You know I'm beginning to think she is cross with you Theta."

"So am I." Once the TARDIS stopped we peered outside to find ourselves in Cardiff. I was extremely delighted,

"Oh thank you old girl!" The Doctor looked at me with confusion in his eyes,

"Cardiff. Just outside the Millennium." Then it dawned on him,

"Oh no…"

"Oh come on! We have to tell him. He has to be in the wedding." He groaned, "Theta."

"Oh alright! He can come." I laughed,

"That wasn't even an option!" I rushed out the door and the Doctor followed. About a minute later I saw him. Running out of the building to meet me,

"Phoenix!"

"Jack!" I laughed as he enveloped me in a hug,

"What brings you here?"

"Well, we had something to ask you actually."

"Really? Like what?" The Doctor chose to step in at this moment,

"Oh nothing important really, just Phoenix and I wondering if you'd like to be in our wedding. That's all." Jack's face lit up,

"Really! Of course! I mean my little sister is getting married!" He laughed and swung me around,

"Can I kiss the groom?" The Doctor paled slightly and I burst into tears with laughter, "No? Well what about the bride then?" He kissed me on the cheek before leading us to a café. He really had been avoiding the hub as of late seeing how most of what he loved was ripped away from him. We wouldn't talk about it any more than we had to. He didn't have to. I could feel it if he let me. It was such a harsh pain that ran deeper than most. But that was jack for you. A man who was passionate about everything he does. Kind of like the Doctor.

"So would you like to come with us Jack?" The Doctor's offer was serious. He knew what Jack had gone through and knew how much it meant to me. He thought about it for a long time before he answered,

"You know. In another time I would've said yes. But, I think I need to stay here. I mean pick me up for the wedding of course, but… I feel like this is where I belong for the time being." The Doctor nodded in understanding and squeezed Jack's arm. This man who had been through so much would not run away. He would stand his ground. And that was why I admired him.

We ended up spending three days there in Cardiff. Jack was more than happy to share his hospitality with us and in fact took us all over Cardiff making us see different sights and try very strange food. But it was nice. It was peaceful. And if only we knew that this would be the last peaceful like day we'd have in a long time.


	41. Problems with Christmas

Before we had left Amy and Rory for their honeymoon the Doctor gave them a device of some sort to contact us if they needed us. And sure enough in about three days they needed us. We were with Jack at a local restaurant when the sonic started to beep.

"Oh, hang on a minute." He opened his jacket and pulled it out. He examined while Jack and I continued our conversation,

"So there I was with these droids on a futuristic game show completely naked." I was cracking up, "Then they decided that I needed work done and wanted to do some cutting on my face." He was laughing and grinning like a mad man. I hadn't seen him this happy in a long time, "I then pulled out a gun that I had been hiding."

"Where did you hide that if you were naked?" He chuckled,

"You don't want to know." I cracked up but my laughing was gone when the Doctor told us that we'd have to go,

"Apparently they ran into some trouble." I sighed and we paid for our meal then left. We walked back to the TARDIS and then said our goodbyes. Jack's eyes told me just how badly he didn't want us to go,

"Come back soon alright." The Doctor nodded and shook his hand,

"Till we meet again Captain." He nodded then turned to me,

"Oh." I wrapped my arms around his neck, "I'll call you. We'll be back. I promise." He chuckled,

"I know. Take care." I pulled back and kissed his cheek before heading into the TARDIS. As we disappeared I couldn't help but feel sad leaving Jack like that. The Doctor saw this and took hold of my hand,

"He'll be alright. He's a strong man." I sighed,

"I know. It still doesn't make it any easier." We headed off towards the signal and found that the ship our companions were on was heading for a planet below them. The Doctor was running around the place throwing switches and pushing buttons.

"If we can pull out in front of them maybe we can…" Sparks flew signaling that that was not an option, "No! No! No! Ah, ah." He typed something in to the communicator and then pulled up in front of the ship. "If we can get the fog cleared… It seems like it's being controlled from a building of some sort from the center of the planet. Let's go see what's up." He picked up the phone and called the president of the planet. I ran to the other room and grabbed my coat before reentering the room. He hung up in a huff, "Looks like we are going to have to do this ourselves." I smirked as he landed us. I walked out and then quickly walked back in,

"You landed us on the bleeding roof!"

"Did I? Well at least there's a chimney."

"You can go down the chimney but I am going to land her on the ground so when you get thrown out you don't have to scale the roof, again." He beamed at me and kissed my cheek,

"See you soon." He jumped down the chimney and I rolled my eyes and went back inside. I landed her just outside the massive building and then walked inside. It was relatively easy to do so seeing how most of the people who worked here didn't really care for their employer. I walked into the main room just in time to see the Doctor covered in soot explaining why he went down the chimney, "Ah, yes, blimey. Sorry. Christmas eve on a roof top saw a chimney, my whole brain went what the hell." He clapped his hands and walked over to the family in front of me, "Don't worry fat fellow will be doing the rounds later. I'm just scoping out the general… chimneyness."

"Chimneyness?" He through my look and I shook my head.

"Yes, nice size." He leaned against the chimney and it was all I could do to keep from laughing. The family was just as confused as the servants but the man who I assumed was the master was slowly starting to become angry. "Good traction," He jumped back as he hurt himself, "Big take."

"Fat fellow?" Out of all the questions to ask when a random person comes down the chimney. I sighed. The father wasn't the brightest,

"Father Christmas, Santa Clause, or as I've always known him Jeff."

"You call him Jeff?" He glared at me slightly,

"There's no such person as father Christmas." The Boy was full of spirit.

"Oh yeah," The Doctor pulled out a picture and showed it to him, "Me, Phoenix, and Father Christmas in Frank Sinatra's hunting lodge. 1952, see him in the back with the blonde. Albert Einstein the four of us together. Vwoooom watch out. Okay." The boy's heart lifted and he smiled and nodded, "Keep the faith. Stay off the naughty list." I leaned down beside the boy,

"Don't worry Ben, I can swing it for you to get that new bike you want." I winked at him and his heart jumped for joy,

"Really!" I nodded and the Doctor pulled me with him,

"Don't o promising that. You know he won't do personal favors."

"He owes me one for introducing him to Mrs. Clause." The Doctor was about to respond but his eyes cauht something else,

"Ooo, now what's this, I love this. A big flashy lighty thing. That's what brought me here. Big flashy lighty things have got me written all over them. Not actually, but give me time and a crayon. Now this big flashy lighty thing is connected to the spire in your dome yeah… and it controls the sky. Well technically it controls the clouds, which technically aren't clouds at all, well they're clouds of tiny partials of ice. Ice clouds love that." He turned and pointed to the girl in the ice,

"Who's she?"

"Nobody important." The old man was bitter and loathing.

"Nobody important. Blimey that's amazing. Do you know in nine hundred years of time and space I've never met anyone who wasn't important before." He looked at me and winked before he turned to the old man who glared in disgust, "Now. This consol is the key to saving that ship." He ran like a chicken with it's head cut off back to the consol. I shook my head but followed. He began to fiddle with it, "Sorry my hat. If I had a hat. I mean someone's hat." The controls kept buzzing at him and he kept rambling about the hat, "Sorry rambling because **this isn't working!**" He shook his hands at the consol,

"Controls are isomorphic." The old man walked towards us, "One to one. They respond only to me."

"Oh you fibber. Isomorphic. There's no such thing." I felt no lie in the old man but the Doctor wouldn't believe it until the old man leaned over and flipped a switch shutting the whole thing off then turning it back on again. The Doctor being the Doctor flipped the switch and it buzzed at him, then he kept flipping the switch and it kept buzzing at him before he finally gave up and soniced the whole thing then the old man. He looked at it and then looked at me, "These controls are isomorphic."

"The skies of this entire world are mine. My family tamed them and now I own them."

"Tame the sky. Ha, what does that mean?"

"It means I'm Kazran Sardick. How could you **possibly** not know who I am?"

"Well, just easily bored I suppose. So I need your then."

"Make an appointment."

"There are four thousand and three people in a space ship trapped in your cloud belt without your help they're going to die."

"Yes." There was no feeling in him what so ever. Just bitterness,

"You don't have to let that happen."

"I know, but I'm going to. Bye-bye. Bored now." The servants tried to push us out but the Doctor wiggled away and pulled me with him back to Kazaran, "Oh look at you. You're tough now."

"There are four thousand and three people I won't allow to die tonight. Do you know where that puts you?"

"Where?"

"Four thousand and four."

"Was that a sort of threaty thing." I leaned forward,

"Do you want it to be." I felt fear slip into him for just a second before disappearing again,

"Whatever happens tonight remember, you brought it on yourself."

"Yeah, yeah right. Get out of here." The servant put his hand on my shoulder and the Doctor threw it off and took my hand before walking away, "And next time find me some funny poor people." The little boy got free and picked up a piece of coal and threw it at Kazaran. Kazran stood up and marched over to the boy whose fear was taking over. I moved quickly and picked the boy up. Karan raised a hand to strike him,

"No! No!"

"Don't you! Leave him!" I held the boy tight to me and I felt something shift in Kazran. It felt like grief and fear but it quickly vanished. He put his hand down,

"Get 'em out of here!" I put the boy down who ran to his father and they were ushered out. "Get that foul smelling family out of here. Out!" He looked at the Doctor and I, "What. What do you want?"

"A simple life with a family. But you didn't hit the boy."

"Well, I will next time!"

"No, but you see, you won't. Why not? What am I missing?" He drew closer and walked past Kazran,

"Get out. Both of you, get out of this house."

"The chairs. Of course the chairs. Stupid me the chairs."

"Chairs…" Kazran was feeling uneasy, he knew the Doctor was on to his secret.

"There's a portrait on the wall behind me. Looks like you, but it's too old, so it's your father. All the chairs are angled away from it. Daddy's been dead for 20 years but you still can't get comfortable where he can see you. There's a Christmas tree in the painting but none in this house on Christmas Eve. You're scared of him and you're scared of being like him and good for you, you're not like him, not really. Do you know why?"

"Why?" His voice was soft seeing that he had been found out,

"Because you didn't hit the boy." He lowered his head, "Merry Christmas Mr. Sardick."

"I despise Christmas!" The Doctor smiled and walked past him,

"Shouldn't. It's very you."

"It's what? What do you mean?" The doctor stopped and took my hand before looking back at him,

"Halfway out of the dark." Kazran's heart was a mix of emotions from shame to sadness to anger again. As we left we could still hear him shouting orders. When we were finally outside the Doctor looked at me, "Don't ever scare me like that again!"

"What?" He pulled me to him,

"I thought he was going to hit you." I chuckled softly,

"Oh Theta, you should call Amy." He pulled out his communicator and called her,

"Have you got a plan yet?"

"Yes I do."

"Are you lying?"

"Yes I am."

"Don't treat me like an idiot."

"Okay, the good news is I've tracked the machine that controls the cloud belt and I could use it to clear you a flight corridor and you could land easily."

"Well, hey, hey that's great news."

"But I can't control the machine."

"Less great."

"But I met a man who can."

"Ah, well, there you go?"

"And he hates me."

"Well, why don't you be extra charming and clever." The sarcasm was thick and I took the communicator away from him,

"He tried that, and that's why he hates us." The Doctor took it back,

"So. Hang on." The family from earlier came over to us,

"I've never seen anyone stand up to Mr. Sardick like that." He took the Doctor's hand and shook it then took mine and kissed it, "Thank you for helping my boy. Bless you both and Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas. Lovely, sorry a bit busy."

"You better get inside sir. The fogs thick tonight and there's a fish warning." The

Doctor put the headset back up to his ear but stopped,

"Sorry, fish?"

"Yeah, you know what they're like when they get hungry."

"Yeah I know. Fish, fish." He made a weird gesture with his hand, "Fish?"

"Yeah, all Mr. Sardick's fault I reckon." He pointed to the spire that was controlling the cloud belt. "He always lets put a few big ones through the cloud layer when he's in a bad mood." He put his goggles on and shook our hands once more, "Thanks you again and bless you." He walked away and the Doctor just looked at me,

"Fish?"

"Doctor, the captain says we have less than an hour, what do we do?" He turned to a lamppost behind us and that's when we say them. Little fish swimming around the light,

"Fish."

"Sorry what?"

"Fish that can swim in fog. I love new planets."

"No, I'm not getting you one."

"Doctor, Doctor please don't get distracted." He put his hand up to the little ones that swam near us,

"Now why would people be frightened of you tiny little fellows. You sweet little fishy wishies." I stared at him, he was talking to them like they were children. "Mind you fish in fog, so the cloud cover, oh, carful up there!" Amy threw him another sarcastic comment as the speakers began to play music,

"Doctor how are you getting us off here!"

"Give me a moment!" He hit his head, "Can't use the TARIDS cos it can't lock on, so that ship needs to land but it can't land unless a very bad man suddenly decides to turn nice just in time for Christmas Day."

"Doctor I can't hear you. What is that? Is that singing?"

"It's a Chrismas Carol."

"A what?"

"A Christmas Carol."

"A what?"

"A CHRISTMAS CAROL!" He stopped and looked at me with a smile growing on his face,

"Oh you clever man."

"Kazran Sardick… Merry Christmas Kazran Sardick.


	42. Reduced to babysitting

We entered the TARIDS and immediately thought of something to do,

"Theta, I'll be out in moment." He gave me a curious glance. I ran into the other room and dug out a projector.

"Ah, clever girl." He took it and ran out of the TARDIS. I was cleaning up the mess I made when I felt a sharp pain in my heart. It was Kazran. The video the Doctor was showing him. I felt his fear and his sadness.

"Oh Kazran." When I finished I found the Doctor was back in the TARDIS.

"We are going to be the ghosts of Christmas past." I laughed,

"Only you." He threw some switches and we appeared just outside the window of the house,

"See, way back." He opened the window and entered before helping me in,

"Who are you?" Young Kazran. This boy's heart was lonely. More lonely than most.

"I'm the Doctor and this is Phoenix. We're your new babysitter."

"Where's Mrs. Mandovani?"

"You'll never guess Mrs. Mandovani went and won the lottery." He proceeded to jump on the boy's bed.

"There isn't any lottery."

"I know. What a woman."

"If you're my babysitter why are you climbing in the window?"

"Cos if I was climbing out of the window I'd be going in the wrong direction, pay attention. But Mrs. Mandovani's always my babysitter."

"Time's changed. Wouldn't you say?" He got up close to the camera. "See, Christmas past."

"Who are you talking to?" young Kazaran thought the Doctor was bonkers,

"You. Now your past is going to change which means your memories will change too. It's a bit scary but you'll get the hang of it."

"I don't understand."

"I'll bet you don't. I wish I could see your face." He pointed at the young boy then to the screen. He ran and jumped on the bed again, "Right, your bed room. Great let's see you're twelve years old so we'll stay away from under the bed." He jumped,

"Cupboards! Big cupboard. I love a cupboard." He opened it and took a deep breathe, "Do you know, there's a thing called a face spider. It's just like a tiny baby's head with spider's legs. And it specifically evolved to scuttle up the backs of bedroom cupboards."

"Theta!" He closed the doors and looked at me then Kazran. The poor boy was scared by what the Doctor told him,

"Which... I probably shouldn't have mentioned."

"You think."

"Right. So what are we gonna do? Eat crisps and talk about girls? I've never actually done that but I bet it's easy. Girls! Yeah?"

"Are you really a babysitter?"

"I think you'll find I'm universally recognized as a mature and responsible adult." I rolled my eyes as he pulled out his psychic paper.

"It's just a lot of wavy lines." He pulled it back and looked at it,

"Yeah, shorted out. Finally a lie too big. Okay, no, not really a babysitter. But it's Christmas Eve. You don't want a real one. You want me." I laughed at him,

"Why? What's so special about you?"

"Have you ever seen Marry Poppins?"

"No." The look on his face was enough to make me laugh,

"Good. Because that comparison would've been rubbish." He clapped his hands, "Good. Fish in the fog. Fish in the clouds, how do people ever get bored. How did boredom even get invented?"

"My dad invented a machine to control the cloud belt. Tame the sky he says. The fish'll be able to come down, but only when we let them. We can charge whatever we like."

"Yeah. I've seen your dad's machine." I felt something in the fog and looked out the window a bit further causing the Doctor to glance where I was looking,

"What? You can't have."

"Tame the sky… human beings. You always manage to find the boring alternative don't you. You want to see one fish? We can do that, we can see a fish." His heart lifted then fell,

"But aren't you going to tell me it's dangerous?"

"Dangerous? Come on, we're boys. And you know what boys say in the face of danger."

"What?" He walked past us to the middle of the room.

"Mummy! Or in my case I call for phoenix." I shook my head,

"What about you? Aren't you going to tell me it's dangerous?"

"Yes it is dangerous." He lowered his head and I kneeled down beside him, "But we all need a bit of danger in our lives. And this isn't that big on the scale of dangerous things." He smiled and hugged me. The Doctor set up a little pulley system with the screw driver on one end.

"I'm setting it to sonar so it'll attract the fish and we will wait in the closet so as not to scare it."

"You mean so **you **don't scare it." He gave me a mock glare before ushering us into the closet. The boys sat at one end of the closet and I sat at the other,

"Are there any face spiders in here?"

"Nah, not at this time of night. They'll all be sleeping in your mattress." He hit his foot,

"Theta." He shrugged,

"So why are you so interested in the fish?"

"Cos they're scary."

"Good answer."

"What kind of tie is that?"

"A cool one."

"Why is it cool?"

"Why are you really interested in fish?"

"My school. During the last fog belt one of the nets had broken and there was an attack. Loads of them. A Whole shock. No one was hurt but it's the most fish ever seen below the mountains."

"Where you scared?"

"I wasn't there. I was out sick."

"Oh. Lucky you." Kazran's heart became sad and he lowered his head, "Oh, not lucky."

"It's all anyone ever talks about now. The day the fish came. Everyone's got a story."

"But you don't." He looked at the camera which I was holding, "I see."

"Why are you recording this?"

"Do you pay attention at school Kazran?"

"Sorry what?"

"Cos you're not paying attention now." The string on his finger began to pull. I smiled as the boy was filled with excitement. He stood and cracked the door open,

"Doctor are you sure?"

"Trust me."

"Okay." He voice was a bit shaky.

"Hey eyes on the tie. I wear it and I don't care. Trust me?" I smiled. That was the Doctor that I loved.

"Yes." His voice was full of excitement.

"That's why it's cool." He looked back at the camera before opening the door completely and going outside. I could hear the Doctor muttering to himself as Kazran pressed his ear to the door,

"What is? What kind? Can I see?" The doctor replied but I couldn't hear, "is it big?" The Doctor replied and I felt the small heartbeat of the creature. But the small heart beat was gone and replaced by a much bigger heartbeat, "How little? Can I come out?"

"Ah, Kazran I think you should back away from the door." He ignored me and proceeded with his questions,

"Well what colur is it?" The Doctor came running in and slammed the door behind him, "What's happening!"

"Well concentrating on the plusses you definitely have a story of your own now." The 'fish' slammed its body against the door, "Also I got a very good look at the fish and I think I understand how the fog works. Which is gonna help me land the spaceship in the future and save a lot of lives and I better get some very interesting readings off my sonic screwdriver when I get it back from the shark in your bed room."

"There's a **shark** in my bedroom!"

"Theta!"

"Oh fine! Focus on that!" The pounding stopped,

"Has it gone? What's it doing?"

"What do you call it when you don't have any feet, and you're taking a run up?" He pushed himself and Kazran away from the door towards me as the Shark burst through the door destroying the camera in the process.

"It's going to eat us. It's going to eat us!" He kept repeating that over and over again,

"Well maybe we're going to eat it, but I don't like the odds. If I had my screwdriver I could probably send a pulse and stun it."

"Well where's your screwdriver!"

"Well, concentrating on the plusses... in reach."

"THETA! It ate your screwdriver?"

"You know there's a real chance the way it's wedged in the doorway keeping it's mouth open."

"There is?"

"Just agree with me, 'cause I've only got two go's and then it's your guys turn."

"Two go's?" He held up his arms,

"Two arms! Right then. okay. Geronimo. Open wide!"


	43. Singing for the sharks

Eventually he did get it out and the fish slowly backed out of the door and outside. He looked at Kazran then me,

"Are you both okay?"

"I'm fine."

"And I'm resisting the urge to slap you." He grinned,

"Yup she's fine." We went outside to find the Shark lying in the snow,

"What's the big fishy done to you? Swallowed half of you that's what." The Doctor was moping about half his screw driver being gone, "Half a screw driver what use is that. Bad big fishy."

"Doctor." We turned around to see Kazran with the shark, "I think she's dying." He moved towards the boy and scanned the shark with what little of a screwdriver he had,

"Half my screwdriver still inside," I felt Kazran's heart grow heavy with sorrow, "but yeah, I think so. I doubt they can survive long outside the cloud belt. Just quick raiding trips…on a foggy night." The Doctor saw the tears roll down the boy's cheeks and I went and picked him up off his knees. He held me and pressed his face into my stomach,

"Can't we get her back up there? We were just going to stun it, I didn't want to kill it."

"She was trying to eat you." The Doctor's voice was soft and gentle. Kazran pulled away slightly and looked at him,

"She was hungry…" I smiled. The boy was concerned for the shark even tough she did try to eat him.

"I'm sorry Kazran. I can't save her. I could take her back up there, but she'd never survive the trip." I hummed softly as the boy still clung to me, "We need a fully functioning life support." I felt his heart perk up a bit,

"You mean like an ice box? Okay." He pulled me and the Doctor with him out of his room and down the stairs. And once the Doctor saw the big Christmas tree sitting in the main room he ran towards it,

"Ooo! Tree!" He was looking at the ornaments and lights while Kazran and I went to fetch a lamp.

"He's…different, isn't he?" I laughed,

"He's mad for sure if that's what you were wondering." I sighed as I watched him. He was grinning from eat to ear, "But I love that about him." Kazaran smiled and took my hand and led me towards the other side of the room and the Doctor soon followed. We headed down more flights of stairs before we came to what looked like the basement but it was absolutely freezing. We peered in the window of a big metal door and saw what looked like rows of caskets frozen in ice,

"What is this?" He and Kazran began to push the handle to open the door,

"Surplus population. That's what my dad calls it." As hard as they tried it wouldn't budge, "Ah, it's not turning." Eventually they gave up and the Doctor moved towards the wall where there was a key pad like thing. He soniced it and growled in frustration,

"Ah, what's the number?"

"I don't know." He began to type furiously on the key pad,

"Place is full of alarms. It's not just the door. I need the number." He went to pull on the door again but it didn't open. "I need the number!"

"I'm not aloud to know it till I'm older." He stopped,

"I'll be right back; I know where I can get the number." I grinned as he popped out for a second.

"He'll be back, and he'll have the number." And sure enough in about a minute he was back. He was running down the stairs,

"Seven two five eight." I typed in the number as he went to the door, "Seven Two Five Eight." He spun the wheel and it opened. When we walked in we were hit with a blast of cold, "Ah, there's fish down here too."

"Yeah but only tiny ones. The house is built over a fog lake. That's how dad freezes the people." The boy led us down a corridor but stopped in front of one, "They're all full but we could borrow one." He leaned closer to the tomb like box then pulled back, "Yeah, this one." The Doctor took the lantern and leaned closer to the little window. It was a woman, the same woman from before,

"Hello again."

"You know her?" Of course he ignored this and kept muttering to himself,

"Why her…" He looked at me then smiled before smirking at the boy, "Important is she?" The boy bit his lip and I felt his heart leap,

"She won't mind. She likes the fish." He leaned over and pressed a few buttons and a hologram of the woman appeared on the window.

"_My name is Abigail Pettigrew and I'm very grateful for Mr. Sardick's kindness. My family_…" I felt the boy's heart fill with happiness,

"This is where she starts to talk about the fish in a minute." The boy stood there and watched her as the Doctor took a closer look at the other people in the ice boxes. I watched Kazran as he placed his hand on the window of her box,

"_But I'm also surrounded by the fish. The beautiful iridescent magical fish."_

"Why these people here?" My attention was grabbed by Theta's voice, "What's all this for?"

"My dad lends money. He always takes a family member as…he calls it… security."

"Hard man to love your dad." He looked towards the boy was pressing more buttons, "But I suppose you know that."

"_I am not alone, and I am at peace."_ The hologram flickered off and her chamber lit up as she began to wake. The sonic started to make a low hum,

"What's wrong?" I felt something. Soft at first but growing stronger,

"That's my half of the screwdriver trying to repair itself." Then I heard it. The sonar, "It's signaling the other half." The sonar grew louder and the Doctor backed up and Kazran's heart thudded wildly in his chest,

"But the other half's inside the shark…"

"Yeah… Sounds like she's woken up."

"And I'm sure she won't be happy with **you** Theta for shoving you arm down her throat."

"Okay…So it's homing in on the screwdriver. Great." Just then the shark leapt out of the fog and Kazran and I split to the right while the Doctor went to the left. I felt my head hit one of the ice boxes put picked myself and Kazran up and kept running.

"Keep running!" We weaved in and out of boxes. I stopped behind a box and pulled me to him. He was breathing hard and so was I. He knelt down behind me and I felt the shark pass but then I heard singing. Beautiful singing. We moved towards the open box and found the woman further down the aisle singing to the shark. I went towards her and knelt beside the shark. I placed my hands on the shark and let my heart sink into rhythm with hers. I sang with her but in my own language. It blended well with Abigail's but hers was something very special. Eventually Theta clumsily found his way out of the boxes and stood beside the boy,

"It's not really the singing of course." Of course . The Doctor trying to make everything somewhat mathematical and logical.

"Yes it is!"

"Nah."

"The fish love the singing its true."

"Nah. The notes resonate in the ice crystals causing a delta wave pattern in the fog. Ow!" He slapped the back of his neck, "Fish bit me."

"Shut up then." She smiled at me before looking towards the boys not once breaking song. I felt the Shark relax under my touch,

"Of course that's how the machine controls the cloud belt. The clouds are ice crystals, if you can vibrate the crystals at exactly the right moment at the right frequency you could – ow!" He slapped his neck again, "Why do they keep biting me?"

"Look the fish like the singing okay, now shut up!" Theta opened his mouth then shut it while making a face,

"Okay!" I took Abigail's hand as we sang and placed it over mine that rested on the shark. I let her feel the energy coursing through the shark and the great big heart that beat on the inside of it. When the song was done we introduced ourselves then the Doctor tried to explain his plan while I summed it up,

"Basically we are going to try and get the shark back where she belongs." They nodded and I went to unlock the TARDIS when I did they both gasped,

"It's bigger on the inside."

"Yes the colur, really knocks the walls back." He knocked on the case that held the shark, "Shark in a box to go." We loaded the shark and entered the TARDIS for take off. Abigail's heart swelled with amazement and joy,

"This is amazing!"

"Nah this is transport. I keep amazing ," He flipped some switches before running down to the door and flinging it open, "Out here." There were swarms and swarms of fish. Schools swimming about. It was so beautiful. They were everywhere. Abigail was the happiest of them all. Her heart was filled with joy. Theta went back to the box, "Come on then. Let's get this shark out." He pushed a few buttons while Kazran pulled out a camera and began to take pictures. First of Abigail then of me and then even the Doctor and the shark who was finally out of the box and back out in the sky,

"Hey! Look at her go!" Theta groaned as he closed the lid to the ice box and took note of the numbers on the front.

"Abigail, this number what does it mean?" I felt something in her heart shift,

"It pertains to me sir not the fish."

"Yeah but how?"

"You are a doctor you say? Are you one of mine?" Her heart held question but it held something else as well,

"Do you need a doctor?" She didn't reply and a timer went off and the Doctor raced towards it, "Ah! Sorry! Times up kids!" Kazran groaned,

"Why?"

"It's nearly Christmas day." We went back to the cold storage room and put Abigail's box back in its place. She stepped inside,

"If you should ever wish to visit again." Theta leaned against another box,

"Well, you know, if I'm ever in the neighborhood." But Kazran couldn't help himself,

"They comes every Christmas Eve."

"What?"

"Yeah, they do. Every Christmas Eve. Every time. They promise."

"No we don't-" But it was too late Kazran shut the door. Somehow I figured this was not going to be as easy as it appeared.


	44. Calm before the storm

"We can't come back every Christmas eve, it's just too-"

"But we can't just leave her! Look how happy she was."

"Theta." He looked to me and sighed,

"Alright. Fine. Yes, yes we'll come back next Christmas eve." He took my hand and began to walk away from the boy, "Come on, time to go."

"Wait!" Kazran's heart grew very sad, "You're leaving?"

"We'll be back, Kazran. We promised." I leaned down and gave the boy a hug,

"And when we make a promise, we always keep it." His heart lifted a little and he wrapped his arms around me.

"Okay. I guess I can wait." I laughed,

"Good, we'll have more adventures when we return. Stay out of trouble." And with that we left. The Doctor threw some switches and the TARDIS lurched back into life. He looked at me and had a slight smile on his face, "What?" he shook his head,

"Your singing." I smirked at him,

"What about it?" He threw me a smile that melted my heart,

"It's beautiful." I wrapped my arms around him,

"It doesn't resonate very well with the fish since it's in a different tongue, but it's alright." He smirked and pressed his lips to mine,

"It's beautiful just the way it is. Just like you." I laughed,

"Well aren't you just being sweet today. Why?" He laughed,

"Do I need a reason to be sweet?"

"Mmm, you usually have something up your sleeve." He grinned,

"You know me all to well. Come on! Kazran is expecting us." He took my hand and lead me out the door. It was Christmas Eve again and Kazran was up and waiting for us. His heart jumped for joy when he saw us,

"You're back!" He came charging towards me and threw his arms around me. I laughed,

"Of course we are! We made a promise and I told you we always keep our promises." Theta pulled two Santa Clause hats out and tossed one to Kazran,

"What's this for?"

"To wear silly!" He looked at me then shrugged before pulling it on his head. Then Theta pulled out some elf ears,

"No. No, no, no. I am not wearing elf ears!"

"Oh come on! It'd be fun!"

"No! Put those on Rory or Amy but not me!"

"Please!" I sighed and looked at Kazran who had a pleading look on his face that matched the Doctor's. I groaned,

"Oh fine, give me the ears." I put them on and glared at him, "You owe me big for this one Theta." He smiled and took my hand before handing Kazran what looked like a harness and whispering in his ear. Then he went running down the stairs to the containment room that held Abigail.

When we were in Kazran raced down to her ice box tomb and punched in the numbers. It lit up and the door opened, "Merry Christmas!"

"Doctor!" She laughed and her heart filled with joy. He ran down the aisle of fog with the rest of us in tow,

"What are we going to do?"

"The Doctor's got a great plan. Wait till you hear it!" Once Theta explained his plan of harnessing the shark and using it to pull a small carriage around the night sky Abigail laughed,

"You are out of your mind. This will never work."

"Oh don't think shark think dolphin." He lifted Kazran into the carriage then took his half eaten screwdriver out and scanned the area then sent out a sonar.

"A shark isn't a dolphin."

"It's nearly a dolphin."

"No it isn't."

"Well that's where you're wrong cos… shut up." I laughed. He couldn't think of something to say to that.

"But it could be anywhere." Kazran hopped out of the carriage and walked towards us, "Will it really come?"

"No chance. Completely impossible." I could hear the sound of the other half signaling the Doctor's half of the screwdriver. She was coming. "Except on Christmas." He laughed. And soon enough we were off. We were flying through the sky. Kazran and Abigail were in the carriage and Theta was sitting in the driver's seat while I sat behind him with my arms wrapped around his waist.

"How are we going to get back?"

"I dunno!"

"Do you have a plan?"

"I dunno!" Kazran and Abigail gave up on the questions and laughed. They were having so much fun. The happiness and joy just poured out of them and Theta simply beamed with happiness. I couldn't stop myself from laughing and smiling along with them even though my friends were in trouble. We flew through the sky. Past houses and over people's heads. We raced through the city and up into the clouds.

Eventually we had to go back and Abigail had to go back into her ice prison but that didn't dampen her spirits at all,

"Best Christmas Eve ever!"

"Till next one!" Kazran shut the door and Theta and I gave her one last wave before it shut. Thankfully the elf ears had gotten lost in our little adventure and I no longer had to wear them. We bid Kazran a Merry Christmas with the promise of coming back again next year.

We came back as promised and when we opened Abigail's box we greeted her with Merry Christmas again,

"Where to this time?" She was so excited and so happy and I was starting to feel more come off of Kazran. He seemed… infatuated with her. Almost like a school boy crush. He didn't seem quite so sure about it yet. I smiled but something inside me told me that this wasn't going to be an easy road. That after we were done here some new horror would be awaiting us. Something **was **coming. I shook it off and tried to enjoy this rare moment of pure happiness in our lives.

"Did I mention at any point in time and space?" We headed back to the TARDIS for another adventure. We went and got Abigail and Kazaran every Christmas Eve and we went so many places. We went to Egypt where sadly enough Theta found another fez. We went to the Andes Mountains, Paris, and Rome. We went everywhere. But that thought, that growing worry that something bad was coming was becoming stronger and stronger with each of our visits. And I feared that this time everything was going to change. Nothing was safe from what lies ahead.


	45. A traditional christmas

Kazran grew older and became a young man and Abigail took notice.

"Kazran…" The Doctor looked at Kazran than me before ushering us all into the TARDIS, "You've grown." He blushed a deep red,

"Yeah."

"And now you're blushing." His heart leapt with embarrassment,

"Sorry." He chuckled nervously and she smiled.

"That's okay." She kept staring at him and he shifted uncomfortably before walking towards the Doctor,

"So, Doctor, where this time."

"Pick a Christmas Eve, I put them all right here." Kazran looked over the different choices while Abigail stepped up,

"Might I make a request?" Both men stopped and were at a loss for words but the Doctor quickly regained his senses,

"Or course." She smiled and I felt her heart grow with joy,

"This one." I smiled at her before turning to the Doctor,

"If I may?" He smiled and stepped out of the way and I took over, "One family reunion coming up!" I pulled some switches and levers and then we were off. When we stepped out Abigail took my hand and led me to a window where I saw a small family hustling about.

"My family…" I squeezed her hand,

"They're good people; I can feel the love that they have. And just how much they miss you." We fell silent for a while. I felt her heart ache for them and I wrapped my arms around her as tears slid down her cheeks. Abigail was focused in on watching her family but I was able to hear some of the Doctor and Kazran's conversation,

"Abigail's crying." The Doctor paused for a moment before looking at him,

"Yes." He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"When girls are crying …are you supposed to talk to them?" I watched as the Doctor's face changed to absolute confusion,

"I have absolutely no idea." He patted his shoulder before Kazran approached. I squeezed her shoulder and walked over to the Doctor. He smiled at me and wrapped his arms around me,

"Do you have a plan forming in that head of yours?" He smiled,

"Of course I do, but one question, are you supposed to talk to girls when they're crying?" I rolled my eyes and hit his arm. He smiled and pulled me along to the front of the house. He knocked on the door and a little boy opened it,

"Hello, I'm the Doctor this is the Phoenix. How is everyone? Good? Good. He threw open the curtains and waved at Kazran and Abigail and motioned for them to come on. They did and introductions were made and I felt the joy come off of the family as they embraced their loved one. Eventually we all settled in and the Doctor was trying a card trick with the young boy, Kazran was helping Abigail's sisters husband put up the decorations, and Abigail and I sat with her sister while she peeled potatoes.

"Every Christmas Eve? I'm not sure I understand."

"Neither do I."

"Is this what it looked like last year?" We looked at the fireplace which had some lights, tinsel, and stockings on it. Most of the decorations however were wrapped around Kazran,

"Well they don't have to be exactly the same." He looked at it before stating that he was starting again,

"Come on Kazran, we're starting again." They got back to work while her sister turned to Abigail,

"That's Sardick's boy isn't it."

"He's not like his father."

"His father treats everyone like cattle; one day that boy will do the same."

"No, he's different." I felt the love come off of her and I knew she was in love with Kazran. My attention was drawn by the Doctor who pulled outa card and showed it to the boy,

"Is it the three of clubs?"

"No."

"You sure? Cos I'm very good at card tricks."

"Rubbish, you've never been good at card tricks." He waved me off,

"It wasn't the three of clubs."

"Well of course it wasn't cos it was the seven of diamonds." The boy laughed,

"No."

"Oi, stop it, you're doing it wrong." The women laughed,

"My fiancé, what can I say, he's a child himself." They laughed before returning to their conversation,

"I see him around the town sometimes. Never any friends."

"He's got me."

"All those Christmas Eve's… you never once came to see us."

"I'm here now."

"Then stay! Stay for tomorrow. Have Christmas dinner with us."

"I can't." Her sister threw down her rag and stood,

"Well then, Tomorrow's Christmas dinner is canceled as my sister refuses to attend."

"Isabella-"

"Instead, we'll have it tonight." Abigail grinned at Kazran who grinned in return. We all bustled about getting to work. I helped cook the vegetables while Abigail peeled more of them and Theta began to cook the ham wile Abigail's sister made the bread and the side dishes. When we all got settled down at the table Theta handed out Christmas party hats and proceeded to pull out these Christmas crackers that had little toys or candy in them. But when you have a Time Lord on your hands you never know what's going to pop out of them. We all crossed our arms and took hold of one end of a cracker beside us,

"Three, two, one, pull!" We did and laughed as the little boy picked up the folded card that was inside,

"How did you do that?" Theta smiled,

"Your card I believe."

"No." He laughed as Thetas face fell,

"Oh…shut up!" We all laughed and yet know one took note of the fact the Abigail and Kazran's hands were both under the table. Both of them had happiness and love flowing through their hearts. Kazran raised his glass,

"Merry Christams!" We all raised our glasses and said Merry Christmas. Eventually we did have to take Abigail back and when we were standing just outside her icebox she hugged the Doctor and I,

"Best Christmas Eve ever!"

"Till the next one."

"I look forward to it… Now I would like to say goodnight to Kazran."

"Of course." The two stared at each other and the Doctor stood there,

"Well on you go." I sighed,

"Oh Theta." She smiled at me then at the Doctor,

"Oh, oh! Yes, right, sorry, um I'll go then." He looked at her, "Good night." Then Kazran, "Good luck- night, good night."

"Theta!" He backed into another icebox and muttered sorry before heading my way. Kazran opened his mouth before heading for Theta,

"Doctor! Wait, I, ah I **think** she's going to kiss me."

"Yeah I **think** you're right." He pushed him towards her and turned back around but Kazran wasn't finished yet,

"I've never kissed anyone before. What do I do?"

"Well," He threw his arm around his neck and pulled him close, "Try to be all nervous, rubbish, and a bit shaky."

"Why?'

"Because you're going to be like that anyway so you might as well make it part of the plan anyway so it will feel on purpose. Now go." He pushed him back and tried to walk away,

"W-what now, I kiss her now?"

"Kazran, trust me, it's this or go to your room and try to design a new kind of screwdriver. Don't make my mistakes now go!" he pushed Kazran away and smiled before heading towards me. He took my hand and we walked back to the TARDIS,

"You give the most rubbish advice on girls you know that?"

"Oi!" I pulled him to me and kissed him,

"But you're not to shabby on the love advice." He smiled and just then Kazran walked in with a huge stupid look on his face. I laughed and we took him back to his room. We'd pick them up again next Christmas Eve and we planned on going more places again including California. But for now the Doctor and I were going to get some form of sleep. More like I wanted to get some form of sleep and I wasn't going to let the Doctor go for another seven months without sleeping.

"But I'm not tired."

"Oh hush you sound like a child. Besides it's been five days since either one of us has actually slept." He sighed and began to take his clothes off. I slipped off all my clothes until I was only in my camisole and I swapped jeans for my soft jim jam bottoms. I felt warm arms wrap around my waist and a cool chest against my back. He kissed my neck,

"Sleep well my dear."

"Quel du _good night _melamin _my love_."


	46. Tick Tock it's time to party

"Hollywood!" I laughed as Theta danced around the TARDIS. We landed and outside there was a party going on. "Hope you all like Frank Sinatra."

"You didn't." He grinned at me,

"I did. We are at a party with some of the biggest celebrities you will ever meet. Now go on, go to the wardrobe and get changed. All of you, off you go." The two of them scrambled off to the wardrobe and kissed him,

"You are fantastic. You know that?" He smiled,

"Of course I do. Now go on, you should get changed as well."

"What about you?"

"Oh, I've got something around here I can where." He gave me a grin and I couldn't help but laugh. I headed off to the wardrobe and grabbed a simple blue dress. It was, what I like to call, TARDIS blue. It was a blue chiffon dress that I thought would be perfect for the occasion. I walked out of the wardrobe and heard a whistle. I turned around to see Theta, "You look gorgeous!"

"You don't look bad either." He was wearing a white shirt and jacket with black pants and Bowtie.

"But you know what would really make you look even more dazzling?"

"What?"

"If you would wear this." He pulled out the necklace that I had given him. The silver chain with the glowing star on the end of it,

"Theta, I gave that to you-"

"I know but," He came very close almost to the point where are noses were touching, "I'd love it if you would wear it. Just for me. Because you, Phoenix, are the brightest star in my life." I grinned at him,

"You are so cheesy." He chuckled and then kissed me, "But I'd love to wear it, just because you asked." Gently he pushed my hair out of the way and fastened the clasp. The other two came bustling out looking as brilliant as ever,

"Well then, shall we be off?" Abigail shook her head and rasped Kazran's hand. "Then let the show begin." The night was full of excitement as we met all the different people. We met Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Bobby Darin, Jenny Diver, Lulu Brown, and even Louis Armstrong.

"Hey Doctor how's it goin?"

"Good Frank and how are you?"

"Oh I'm doing fine. The boys and I are getting ready to do another picture."

"Oh really? Which one is it now?"

"Robin and the Seven Hoods."

"Fantastic that's one of my favorites." Frank gave him a funny look and Theta coughed, "I mean it'll probably **be** one of my favorites." Frank glanced at me,

"And who is this lovely lady?"

"Ah, Frank I'd like you to meet my fiancé Phoenix. Phoenix this is Frank Sinatra." He kissed my hand,

"A pleasure to meet you miss." I smiled at him,

"And you." Just then Marilyn came over,

"He Marilyn baby how are you?" She kissed his cheek,

"I'm swell Frank, how are you?"

"Better now that you're here." She laughed,

"You're such a doll." She glanced at Theta and I watched as she looked him up and down, "Who is this handsome fellow?" Theta smiled at me, thinking it was such a great compliment but not realizing the meaning behind it,

"Marilyn honey this is the Doctor, a good friend of mine."

"It's nice to meet you." She stuck her hand out for him to kiss but he awkwardly shook it,

"It's, ah, nice to meet you too. This is Phoenix, she's my fiancé." I smiled at her and she somewhat glared at me. I could feel the dislike she had for me,

"Ah what a pity. I would've loved to get to know you." That was one of the rare moments where my anger was rising to the surface,

"Too bad you'll never get the chance." Theta looked between the two of us glaring at one another,

"Um, ladies I think-" We both shot him a look saying don't interfere and Frank put a hand on his shoulder,

"Buddy I wouldn't do that."

"You know Frank I think you're right. I think it'd be better if we just left the two alone."

"Yeah, hey, how about you and I sing a song together? What do you say?"

"Sure why not! That sounds fun, uh," He glanced at us and we were still glaring at each one another, "Don't kill her." Marilyn smirked at me,

"Don't worry sweetheart I won't bite her to hard." He coughed,

"Mhm, I ah, I didn't mean you." It was my turn to smirk,

"No promises love." Her smirk faded when she realized I was serious and with a huff she walked away. I went to the bar and found Kazran who was downing a shot of something,

"Isn't this amazing!" I smiled feeling the excitement and joy flood him,

"You should find Abigail. The Doctor's doing a duet with Frank." He beamed at me,

"Really? Of course, I'll go find her!" He darted around the place looking for her and when I turned back around I found Theta scrambling away from Marilyn,

"Time to go!" He grabbed my hand and started walking toward the exit,

"What did you do?"

"Nothing." I noticed his bowtie was undone and he seemed, nervous.

"Liar."

"Alright, I may have accidently agreed to marry her."

"Marry who?" The tone in my voice suggested he fess up fast,

"Marilyn Monroe." He turned to glance at me and that was when I noticed the lip stick on his cheek, "Honest it was an accident, I didn't know 'jumping the broom' meant getting married." I stopped, whipped around and headed back towards the party,

"That's it, I'm going to kill her."

"No, no, no! It's not her time yet!" he raced back towards me and wrapped his arms around my waist then picking me up and heading toward the TARDIS,

"Too bad, it's going to be!" I tried to break free but he was stronger,

"No! 1962! That's when she dies. You can't change that! Whether you like I or not she's a fixed point in time, they all are and you know it." He put me down inside the TARDIS,

"Fine, then I'll wait until 1962 to kill her."

"No you won't." He kissed my head before shutting the door and locking it. I banged on the door,

"Theta let me out!"

"Sorry, I'm just going to go get Kazran and Abigail then I'll be right back!" I sighed and sat down on the flight seat. I sighed and leaned my head back and shut my eyes. I waited for at least five minutes before I heard something it was faint… very faint…

"_Tick Tock…"_

"_Tick Tock goes the clock…" It was growing stronger,_

"_And what now shall we play? Tick tock goes the clock now summer's gone away?" I saw a wedding. My wedding. Theta and I standing with our friends around us._

_"Tick tock goes the clock and what then shall we see? Tick tock until the day that thou shalt marry me." I watched him kiss me and slip a ring on my finger._

"Tick tock goes the clock and all the years they fly Tick tock and all too soon you and I must die." The happy scene turned grey and then seemed to crack and fade.

"_No..."_

"_Tick tock goes the clock He cradled and he rocked her" I watched as He held me in his arms like when I was poisoned only this time… I was covered in blood. My blood._

"_Tick tock goes the clock even for the Doctor..." _

I gasped and shot up out of the seat as the TARDIS door was slammed shut. I took deep breaths and my heart raced. I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts I didn't notice the sullen looks or the pain that Kazran and Abigail felt. When we dropped them off theta asked me about coming with him to see them off but I said no. I bid the two goodnight and stayed in the TARDIS. I went to my room and quickly changed before crawling into bed. I lied there trying to push the song out of my head. I never noticed him enter the room. I didn't even realize he had crawled into bed beside me. When his hand touched my shoulder I jumped,

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"No, no it's alright." I didn't look at him. I didn't want him to see the fear in my eyes.

"Is something wrong?"

"No…" He turned me over so I was lying on my back. He lifted my chin so my eyes met his,

"Yes there is… Tell me. What's wrong?"

"Just, a dream… I had. While you were gone getting Abigail and Kazran I… fell asleep. It was just a dream." He gave me a small smile and his hand traced my cheek,

"Do you want me to put up a mind barrier for you?" I nodded. He kissed my forehead before whispering,

"Alright." He placed his hands on my temple and in a matter of moments it was gone. Locked away in my subconscious, "There." I smiled at him,

"Thank you." He gave me a small smile,

"Something's wrong with Kazran. He's not telling me something. Something's changed. Ah, forget about for now. We can deal with that tomorrow. How about I tell you a story? I know you won't sleep and quite frankly neither will I."

"That sounds wonderful."

"Okay, so, there was this one time Koschei, the Master, and I were taking a trip to Sunday, odd name for a planet, but the people were most welcome. They looked like terrestrial otters and then there was…" I smiled as he told me his story. It was nice to have him take my mind off my dream. I couldn't really remember it but I could still feel it clawing at the back of my brain. A song of some kind…

_Tick Tock goes the clock…_


	47. A Christmas song

The Doctor leaned against the window looking intently as Kazran walked into the room. He stood at his desk and hesitated for a moment before reaching into his drawer and pulling out the half eaten screwdriver. He turned around and looked at us before walking over to the window. Theta had hopes that maybe he'd changed his mind but I could feel the anger and the pain in his heart and he shut the curtain. Theta sighed and turned around and I could see just how sad he was. It was very evident in his eyes.

"He's hurting." He looked at me and took hold of my hand,

"I know. The question is why?"

"Whatever it was it's caused him a great deal of pain. His heart is angry and hurts so much."

"We'll have to try something else." I thought about before an idea popped into my head,

"Theta, don't think Amy would make a good ghost?" He looked at me questioningly, "Perhaps say, the Ghost of Christmas Present?" He grinned,

"You, are brilliant." He kissed me before dashing off into the TARDIS. I followed and watched as he threw some switches and levers and grabbed the com relaying the plan to Amy.

"You go on with the plan, I'm going to watch what happens. I need to feel exactly what he's feeling right now. I need to understand." He nodded his head and kissed my forehead.

"See you in a bit." I ran out of the TARDIS doors into the cold freezer like room that held Abigail. I crept quietly along the corridors until I came across Kazran and the holographic Amy,

"Why is she still in there? You can let her out any time."

"Oh yes. Any time at all. Any time… I choose." He lifted his hand and touched the window that showed her face.

"Then why don't you?" He hesitated for a moment,

"This is what the Doctor did to me. Abigail was ill when she went into the ice. On the point of death. I suppose the rest in the ice helped her. But she's used up her time. All those Christmas Eve's with me. I could release her any time I want… and she would live a single day." I felt the pain in his heart. I finally learned where the hurt came from. Then the anger built up,

"So tell me Ghost of Christmas Present, how do I choose which day?" Amy faltered. I could see that she felt bad for Kazran,

"I'm sorry. I-I really am, I'm very, **very **sorry. But you know what, she's got more time left than I have. More than anyone on this ship."

"Good!"

"Rory, widen the beam." That's the point where I decided to go back to the TARDIS. Theta was standing there with his com, "Doctor."

"Yeah?" He looked at me with sad eyes.

"Are you hearing this?"

"Yeah I can hear." I gave him a nod telling him it was time then walked back out. I stood there with my back against one of the frozen coffins. Theta leaned against the one across from me.

"Here we go."

"He's here! Where is he? Doctor!" Suddenly Kazran was back.

"I'm sorry… I didn't realize."

"All my life I've been called heartless. My other life, my real life. The one you rewrote. Now look at me…"

"Better a broken heart then no heart at all."

"You try it, you try it!" he paused, "Why are you here?"

"Cos I'm not finished with you yet." Theta moved forward, "You've seen the past,… present,… and now you need to see the future."

"Fine, do it! Show me. I'll die cold, alone, and afraid. Of course I will, we all do. What difference does showing me make! Do you know why I'm going to let those people die? It's not a plan, I don't get anything from it." He came closer to Theta as I moved behind Kazran, "It's just that I don't care. I'm not like you. I don't even want to be like you. I don't and never ever will care!" There was a long pause before Theta leaned forward,

"And I don't believe that."

"Then show me the future. Prove me wrong."

"I am showing it to you, I'm showing it to you right now." Confusion rolled off the old man, "So what do you think?" He looked past him and towards the boy that as trembling in front of me. I held onto the boys shoulders and whispered in his ear,

"It'll be alright." The old man slowly turned around,

"Is this who you what to become Kazran?" The little boy was slowly he moved forward as did the old man.

"Dad?" Anger flared up in the old Kazran and he threw his walking stick before raising his hand to strike the boy. I went to move forward but one look in Theta's eyes told me he would not strike the boy. He hesitated and a flood of emotions rushed through him. Fear, anger, regret, love, hurt. His hand never fell on the boy but rather he pulled it down and covered his face as he wept.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He went to touch the boy but he pulled away slightly, "It's okay. Don't be frightened. He pulled the young boy into his arms and they both cried. I let out a breath that even I didn't know I had been holding. "I'm-I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." He sobbed and Theta and I moved closer,

"Kazran…we don't have much time." The two pulled away and the old man looked at him for a long time,

"Then we better not waste any time." Theta grinned,

"Come on then!" we dashed into the TARDIS and threw a few switches before running back out into the main foyer where the cloud machine was.

"I'm going to try and get a link up with the ship. See if we can talk to them face to face." I let him work as I looked at the two Kazran's. Mixed emotions were rolling off of them. The old man was no longer angry or bitter but rather happy I think. His heart felt lighter and there was a determination in him that I had never seen before in him. The young boy was excited and amazed by all that was going on.

"Hello, hello? Ah hello everyone." I ran over to see Amy, Rory, and the crew on screen, "Uh, lock onto my signal."

"Doctor, what's happening?"

"I just saved Christmas. Don't go away." He cut the signal,

"You're fantastic. Have I told you that recently?" He grinned and we walked back to the Kazran's. The older one was working furiously with the controls,

"We good to go then?"

"The controls, won't respond."

"Of course they will. They're isomorphic, they're tuned to your brain waves. They'll only respond to you."

"They won't respond."

"But that doesn't make sense." Now he was fiddling with the controls as well, "That's ridiculous! Why won't they…" The controls made a lot of beeping sounds but nothing happened. Then Theta stopped suddenly. "No… oh of course stupid, stupid Doctor."

"Wh-what's wrong? Tell me, what is it?" Theta stood straighter and looked at him, "What-"

"It's you… It's you. I've changed you too much. The machine doesn't recognize you."

"No, my father programmed it-"

"No," Theta walked away and ran his hand over his face, "Your father never would've programmed it for the man you are now."

"Then what do we do?"

"Ah, um, I don't know… I don't know."

"There must be something." Young Kazran looked desperate. His heart ached for them to be able to help. So young… children always want to help.

"This, you can use this. I've kept it see?" The old Kazran pulled out the half eaten screwdriver.

"What half a screw driver?" He stopped and slowly turned back around. By the look on his face I knew he'd come up with an idea, "With the other half up in the sky in a big old shark. Right in the heart of the cloud layer. If we use your aerial to boost the signal and set up a resonation pattern between the two halves," He took the screwdriver and flipped it, " Ooo, come on that would work. My screwdriver call its bit back on this planet, call it's two bits. It could do it." he stopped short,

"Do what?" The old man looked at me and I shrugged. I only got half the idea of what he wanted to do.

"Well my screwdriver is still trying to repair, it's signaling itself. We use the signal but send something else."

"Send what?" The young boy looked at him curiously. Theta lowered his head and my heart grew heavy. I knew just what kind of signal he was talking about.

"Well? What? What?" He turned to the old man,

"I'm sorry, Kazran. I truly am."

"I don't understand."

"We need to transmit something into the cloud belt, something we know works." He still didn't understand and my heart only grew heavier, "We need her to sing." His heart immediately dropped. He knew what we were asking,

"Please Kazran." He looked at me and sighed. We went down to the vault and he opened it before we waked into the cold room. He stood in front of her box for a moment and sighed before pressing the button to release her,

"Her voice resonates perfectly with the ice crystals. It calmed the shark. It'll calm the sky too."

"Could you do it? Could you do this? Think about it Doctor. One last day with your beloved. One last day with Phoenix. Which day would you choose?" Theta's eyes dropped to the floor and I took his hand.

"Christmas. Christmas day." Abigail emerged from the ice box and I felt pain and joy in Kazran's heart. "Look at you." She placed her hand on the side of his face and out of the corner of my eye I saw young Kazran place his hand on the side of his cheek, "You're so old now. I think you waited a bit too long didn't you?"

"I'm sorry."

"Hording my days like an old miser." They chuckled and a tear rolled down his cheek.

"But, if you leave the ice now-"

"We've had so many Christmas Eve's Kazran. I think it's time for Christmas Day. Theta put his arm around my shoulder and I pulled the young Kazran to me. This would be her last day.

Quickly we made our way outside where Theta quickly worked at getting something hooked up so we could save the ship. He handed Abigail the screwdriver with wires wrapped around it,

"Sing, Abigail. Sing."

"Well?" Theta connected a few more wires,

"Well, the singing resonates in the crystals. It's feeding back and forth between the two halves of the screwdriver. One song, filling the sky. The crystals will align, I'll feed in a controlled phase loop, and the clouds will unlock."

"When you're all alone, silence is all you know." I took hold of Abigail's hand.

"What does that mean? What happens when a cloud unlocks?" I looked at him and smiled as Theta grinned at me,

"Something that hasn't happened in his town for a very long time now."

"When you're along, silence is all you see." We looked up and snow began to fall. Little white flakes began to fall towards the planet. "When you're alone, silence is all you'll be.Give me your heart, come to me." I let go of her hand and pulled Kazran over to take my place. I walked over to Theta who was grinning at me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close,

"So…"

"So, Merry Christmas Phoenix."

"Merry Christmas Theta." And with that he leaned in and kissed me. I smiled and kissed him back,

"When you are here, music is all around. When you are near, music is all around. Open your eyes, don't make a sound." The old man had his hand wrapped around Abigail's hand and the young boy was staring at the sky wandering around in amazement. People began to flood the streets, laughing and playing in the snow. I took hold of the boy's hand as we made our way back to the TARDIS. Our work here was done. Theta unlocked the TARDIS and we heard the sonar of the shark.

"Hello my old friend." The old Kazran and Abigail grinned as they looked into the sky and saw the silhouette of the shark. Theta smiled at me and the boy and ruffled his hair,

"Let's go." The boy went inside and we stopped to take one last look at the couple still standing in the street so enamored with one another. Theta looked at me and kissed me before pulling me inside with him.

"Meet in the shadow, meet in the shadow. Meet in the light of your bright shadow. Meet in the shadow, meet in the shadow. Meet in the light of your bright shadow." He started up the TARDIS to take the young boy back home and I looked at the screen to see Abigail and Kazran waving.

"Goodbye Kazran, Abigail."

After we dropped off the boy we went back to the town and Theta began to build snowmen. He was on his twenty third when Amy and Rory came around,

"You know that could almost be mistaken for a real person." We turned to see them coming when he turned back to look at his creation once more, "But a snowman is fatter."

"Ah, yes, you two. About time! Why are you dressed like that?" Rory was in his Roman outfit and Amy was in her Police outfit. **I **knew why they were dressed like that, it wasn't hard to figure out, but Theta didn't so I said nothing.

"Ah, kind of lost our luggage. Kind of crash landed." I chuckled as Rory shot me a look.

"Yeah, but why are you dressed like that at all?" The discomfort was evident and Amy made a quick change in the subject,

"They, ah, they **really **love their snowmen around here don't they? I've counted about twenty." Theta smiled and looked at his latest one,

"Yeah, I've been busy."

"He's been a bit **too **busy."

"Yeah, yeah you have." She hugged him and laughed a bit before hugging me. She was thankful to be alive and happy too. Rory hugged me and whispered in my ear,

"Thanks."

"Anytime mate."

"Right, come on then, let's go!" Rory pulled away and we followed after Theta,

"Uh, got any more honeymoon ideas?" I smacked Rory in the arm and we chuckled,

"Well, there's a moon that's made of actual honey, well it's not **actually** honey, and it's not **actually** a moon. Technically it's alive, and a bit carnivorous. **But **there are some lovely views." He unlocked the TARDIS and Rory rolled his eyes,

"Yup. Great, thanks!" I laughed and followed Rory in letting Amy and Theta have their moment.

"Oh come on Rory, he's just trying to make the best for you!"

"I know but-" the phone began to rang and I groaned. "I'll get it." He picked it up, "Hello?" He scrunched up his nose, "No, this is Rory. Yeah, he's just outside why? I'm sorry what was your name again? I don't think I ever got it." His eyes widened a little, "Uh, okay, give me a mo and I'll go get him." He set the phone down and went to poke his head out the door,

"Who was that?" He shrugged.

"Some woman. Said her name was Marilyn." My mouth dropped as he stuck his head out the door, "Uh, your phone was ringing. Someone called Marilyn. Actually sounds like **the **Marilyn." I stared at the phone, contemplating on whether or not to chew her out. I was focused on the phone and missed what he said but when Rory came back in he looked at me and I made a dash for the phone but never got to it because he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me back.

"Let go! I'm going to kill that woman!" He picked the phone up with his free hand,

"Um, hi, uh Marilyn he said he'd have to call you back, and that that wasn't a real chapel. And, uh, I think his fiancé might kill you if she has the chance so I'd stay away if I were you. Um…" he didn't know what to do so he hung up and held me tight. He was strong that much was for certain. Eventually I stopped struggling, "Are you good now? Can I let go without you throwing us into the past so you can kill Marilyn Monroe?" I sighed,

"Yes."

"Good." And with that he put me down. Amy opened the door and came in as I went back out. I looked at Theta who grinned,

"Off on their trip I assume?"

"Yup." He wrapped an arm around my waist and looked at the sky,

"Half way out of the dark." He looked at me and smiled before pulling me into the TARDIS. "Are you lot ready for one more trip?" Rory groaned,

"What now?" Amy smiled,

"Where are we going? Are we going to do any running? Can we go somewhere where we can just relax? Like space Florida! Can we go back to space Florida?" I smiled at the two of them before looking at Theta,

"What do you have planned?" He grinned,

"How does a wedding sound?" I beamed at him,

"It sounds lovely."


	48. The beginnings of a wedding

**I must apologize profusely for not updating sooner. I had a hit a bit of writers block as to what to do. But I did not sit idly by, no, I did come up with ideas for Matt Smith's second season and how to work around the twist and turns that Moffat threw into the series. I hope I can appease any angry fans by writing what has been my longest chapter yet. Please review, and I am truly sorry for taking so long.**

As the ship landed I ran out of the TARDIS to find Jack waiting for me in the courtyard. When he saw me he grinned,

"It's about time you got here!" I beamed at him and ran full speed into his open arms. He swung me around before placing me back on my feet,

"I missed you Jack."

"I missed you too." When he pulled away the others had just walked up,

"Oh, Jack this is Rory, Amy's husband. Rory this is Jack, he's… sort of like my brother." He stuck his hand out,

"Captain Jack Harkness." I slapped his arm and he laughed and I couldn't help but smile. "What?" The two shook hands and we all headed back to the TARDIS. Amy, Rory, and the Doctor were all ahead of Jack and me. He leaned down next to my ear, "He's cute. Not as cute as the Doctor but he's defiantly good looking."

"He's married."

"I've met plenty of married people in my life."

"I'm sure you have Jack." He laughed and put his arm around my shoulder,

"You know it's been almost five months since I last saw you?"

"That long?"

"Mhm. So who all's on the guest list?" We entered the TARDIS and Jack took in the scenery. "Wow, new interior." The Doctor's face lit up,

"You like it?"

"It's not bad."

"Well, we were thinking you, Sarah Jane and the kids, K-9, Rory, Amy, possibly our friends Craig and Sophie. I wanted to invite Martha, Mickey, Donna, and the others but…" He nodded seeing what I was implying. I wanted to invite Ianto, Tosh, and Owen but I thought it best not to relive those painful memories and go through running into ourselves.

"Too complicated."

"Yeah." He smirked at me,

"Well, you could invite Gwen and Rhys." I shot him a look.

"Who are Gwen and Rhys?" Amy looked between the two of us and the Doctor laughed,

"Gwen was one of Jack's Torchwood members and Rhys is her husband. Phoenix and Gwen do **not **get along **whatsoever**!"

"In all fairness **she **is the one who started the whole thing." Jack shrugged,

"She does have a point Doctor."

"Thank you!" I looked at Amy and saw her confusion so I elaborated for her, "She shot me the first time I met her. She pumped three bullets in me." Rory looked at Jack,

"Do you let all of your members shoot your friends?" He chuckled,

"No, Gwen is-"

"Arrogant." He shot me a look,

"Cautious." He pushed me a bit making me laugh.

"I have an idea. How about Amy and I go talk to Sarah and make plans and stuff like that while Doctor, you, Jack, and Rory go get the cake." They agreed that it sounded like a fun idea. So when the dropped us off just outside her house I made them promise me that they wouldn't cause trouble, "Please, don't destroy the cake, don't get lost, and don't anger anybody. Rory, I'm counting on you to keep these two in line. They're bad enough on their own let alone when they are together." The two pretended to look offended.

"I'll do my best." I hugged him,

"Thanks Rory. You two, behave." Once they were gone Amy and I headed toward the house,

"So who are we meeting again?"

"Sarah Jane Smith. She goes by Sarah Jane to everybody though the Doctor and I still just call her Sarah. We've known her for a very long time. She's a good friend. And then there's-"

"Phoenix!" A teenage boy came running down the drive and flung his arms around my neck. I laughed,

"Hello Luke!"

"You're here! Wait, why are you here?" I pretended to look offended,

"I can't come on a social call?"

"No, I mean yes. But usually whenever you and the Doctor show up there's trouble."

"And do you see the Doctor?" He looked around,

"No."

"Then there's no trouble." He grinned,

"Mum's inside." We followed him in,

"Oh, Luke this Amy. Amy this is Luke. Sarah's son. Luke, are Clyde, Rani, and Sky around?"

"Um, yeah I think so. I not I can call them up. Why what's going on?" He opened the door and we followed him in,

"I'll tell you **after **you get them." I ruffled his hair and he laughed,

"Alright. Mum?"

"I'm in the kitchen." He nodded his head toward the kitchen and I placed my finger over my lips. We followed him in and found Sarah's back to us as she was over the sink cleaning dishes. "Did you get the mail?" She didn't even glance behind her. He grinned at me before turning back to her,

"No, I, uh, I ran into an old friend." She stopped washing and dried her hands off,

"Who did you-" She stopped midsentence when she turned around and saw me standing there. To say she was shocked was an understatement,

"Hello Sarah."

"Phoenix!" she flung her arms around my neck and I hugged her back. I laughed,

"It's good to see you too Sarah." She pulled back and took in the sight of me,

"What are you doing here? Is everything all right? Are we in danger?" I laughed,

"Why does everyone assume there's always danger when we show up?" She smiled,

"Because usually there is." I laughed,

"Yes well, as you can see there's no Doctor here at the moment so I can promise there's no trouble… At the moment." She laughed and so did I.

"I'll go get the others."

"Thank you Luke!" Once he left I made introductions, "Sarah, this is one of our friends Amy Pond. Amy, this is Sarah Jane Smith one of our oldest and dearest friends." They shook hands,

"So you travel with the Doctor now?"

"Yes, me and my husband." Sarah looked at me,

"I thought the Doctor didn't do domestic?" I smiled at her before looking at Amy,

"He made an exception. Amy and Rory are amazing friends and we couldn't dare part with them simply because they were getting married." Amy smiled at me and I laughed,

"Well brings you here then if there's no trouble?" I grinned at her,

"You'll have to wait until Luke comes back with the others."

"Alright, but as soon as they get back. While we wait though, you could fill me in on all that's happened." And so I did. I filled her in on all that had happened since we had last seen each other. It was twenty minutes before Luke returned with the other teenagers.

"Sorry it took so long, **somebody** had to finish a video game." He gave a pointed look at Clyde who simply shrugged his shoulders,

"It was level forty three! What was I supposed to do?" I shook my head with a laugh,

"It's fine. Now, the reason I wanted you all here." The excitement seeped from them in heaps. "You see, the Doctor and I, well we're getting married-" the room exploded with cheers and squeals of delight. The room was full of happiness and excitement,

"You're getting married!"

"Oh that's wonderful!" Sarah wrapped her arms around me,

"Oh Phoenix, that is fantastic news. You two couldn't be more right for each other than anyone in all of time and space."

"Mistress, mistress!" I hear a robotic voice and a light whirring sound.

"I know that voice!" A small robotic dog came into the room, "K-9!" I stooped down and pulled the metal dog to me,

"Hello mistress, am I correct in hearing that you and the master are getting married?" I smiled at him and patted his head,

"Yes K-9 we are."

"I am overjoyed to hear this mistress." That monotone robotic voice made me laugh.

"Well I'm glad. Because you are all invited to the wedding." Cheers were made before I introduced K-9 and Amy. The kids were rambling on to K-9 about making a list for the wedding. I whispered in her ear, "He still calls me Mistress even though Sarah is his Mistress now." Sarah laughed and leaned in as well,

"He feels that we're both his mistresses." Amy chuckled,

"Why does it not surprise me that the Doctor has a robotic dog that calls you, both of you, mistress and him master?" The three of us laughed.

"Now I want you two as my bridesmaids."

"Who are the groomsmen?"

"Glad you asked Sarah, we're going to have Jack and Rory as the groomsmen. You see, we want Rory as best man because Jack is going to give me away. I don't know what to do about a maid of honor though. Because if Jack is giving me away then who can walk with one of you?" Sarah smiled at me,

"How about Amy will be your maid of honor and she can walk with Rory, Jack can walk with you, and I can walk by myself? I don't mind really." I gave her a small smile,

"But Sarah-"

"Mistresses! Might I make a suggestion?" Our attention was drawn to the robotic dog on the floor,

"I could accompany the mistress."

"Oh K-9 that would be a wonderful idea, and you can be the ring bearer. The Doctor would love that." I hugged the dog before hugging the girls. I turned to the kids, "Alright you four, I have a job for you." The stood at attention eager to see what I had in store for them, "When the Doctor gets back I'll need someone to pick out the food and what not for the reception afterwards."

"We'll do it!" I laughed,

"Brilliant." Just then we heard the whirring sound that could only belong to the TARDIS. Everyone rushed outside just as the blue box materialized. And much to my delight all Rory popped out seemingly unscathed,

"Well how'd it go?" Rory looked at me,

"Well we got the cake."

"I sense a 'but' following that sentence."

"But, we did run into a bit of a problem."

"And that would be?" just then the Doctor came out with black smudges all over his face and his hair matted to his face,

"Well the Doctor had to break Jack out of prison by climbing through a rather dirty chimney."

"And why was Jack in prison?" Jack popped out covered in frosting and missing most of his clothes. I slapped my forehead, "Don't tell me, he got a little feisty and said hello to the baker's daughter?" Rory raised a finger and cleared his throat,

"Son, actually." I sighed,

"Well thank you for keeping them intact and getting them back in time." I shook my head at the two of them, "Really? You two couldn't behave for even a few hours?" Jack grinned and the Doctor pointed at Jack,

"In all fairness I did nothing wrong, I was trying to save **him** from being torn apart limb by limb."

"Did you get caught?" he rubbed the back of his neck,

"Well, maybe. Only just a little bit." I rolled my eyes but smirked none the less before turning my gaze to Jack,

"And you? The baker's son?" He shrugged,

"He was a handsome fellow. Reminded me a bit of Proust." I laughed at the statement. They took us all inside and into the kitchen where the cake was waiting. It was a gorgeous cake that was layered and had blue lilies on it. It was white with beautiful molding on all four layers.

"It's beautiful. You lot did a wonderful job."

"We try." I pushed Jack a little getting a chuckle out of him. I gave the kids a list and showed them to a processor that would let them try the different foods. I told them to pick and soup, an appetizer, and a main course. K-9 and the Doctor mysteriously vanished after we agreed to pick up Craig and Sophie. Jack went to clean up. Amy and Rory went to work on their speeches. Leaving Sarah and I to pick out a wedding dress. We went to the wardrobe where I asked the TARDIS about wedding dresses.

"Sleeveless but not strapless, modest but not prudish but not like I was picked up off the street either, not puffy but not skin tight, slender like, a bit of color, blue preferably, I'd like it to reach the floor but I don't want to trip. I'm sorry my dear is that too much?" There was a light humming sound signaling that everything was alright. There was the sound cogs moving and before I knew it there was a row of about ten dresses in front of me to choose from. Each one fit my specifications perfectly. I tried six on before I came across my favorite one. It was sleeveless with small fingertip length straps with a v neck that showed just a bit but not too much. A TARDIS blue band was wrapped around just below my chest. It had a little flow but no puff. There was a design on the bodice that ended just below my waist then was simply plain white. On the bottom of the dress all along the edge was a wrist sized band of the same TARDIS blue. And on the center of the bottom of the dress was the same design that was on the bodice. It was perfect. I absolutely loved it.

"Oh Phoenix, you look gorgeous. Simply gorgeous." There was a knock on the door,

"It's me Amy, can I come in?"

"Yes come in!" She did and she gasped when she saw me,

"You look stunning in that dress! I think you might show me up from my own wedding." We all laughed at that, "But seriously though, you look beautiful. Both his hearts will stop beating when he sees you in this."

"Thank you Amy. Oh, the wedding won't be for two more days and I was wondering if you two could help me with my hair? I thought you guys could practice before hand if you'd like." Sarah and Amy grinned at each other,

"Of course we will!" I laughed and took the dress off before setting it aside, thanking the TARDIS for such a lovely dress. We were going to pick up Craig and Sophie tomorrow then Sarah, Sophie, and Amy were going to get everyone's out fits picked out and tried on. Rory and Craig were going to pick up the decorations. The kids would have the menu's ready. Jack would pick out the flowers. K-9 would help the Doctor and I pick a destination. Then that night the guys would have a stag party and the women would have a hen do. The kids would be left to the care of K-9 who said he would take them to the 3D movie room for the night.

I was happy. I had my family with me. And I was going to be married in a few days. This one moment in time, this fraction that would mean nothing to the rest of the universe, was going to be perfect. The universe would **not **be screwing this up for me. Everything was going to be perfect and calm for these few days. Just these few days. Then chaos can reign again after that. I sighed, if only. There will probably some chaos tomorrow, hopefully just on minor scale. But with the Doctor around when is anything small?


End file.
